Unspoken Desires
by Plaids
Summary: / An AU where Charlotte is a sweetheart genius with a broken heart, Henry is a reclusive jerk who can't seem to catch a break, and Jasper is the one caught in the middle of it all. / eventual Chenry along with, obviously, the other Henry Danger characters.
1. Chapter One

_Helloooooooo :-) so i decided to impulsively post this at midnight for some strange reason and i'll probably delete this story later from embarrassment BUTTT if you're reading this thanks so much you darling human being! I hope you tolerate it!_

 _A/N: This story is rated M, so that means that there will be plenty of curse words and heavy topics and intimate scenes that'll happen a bit later on._

 **** THIS IS SET IN THEIR SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL BTW.****

 **I OWN NOTHING!  
**

* * *

Chapter One / Jasper

If there was one thing Jasper Dunlop was certain of, it was his friendships between Charlotte Bolton and Henry Hart. They were his fixed point—his epitome of a true, genuine bond that could bend and rattle sporadically, but would never break. And that's one of the many things of what he loved about lifelong friendships: the assuring level of his placement in their lives. He never needed any validation of what he meant to them because he knows already. They're his best friends and he's theirs—and that was that.

Another plus about knowing them and being around them constantly was being unable to be passive about the things that occurred in their much too busy lives, especially when it came to their emotions and sudden changes. Jasper's observation of both of them, whether they expected for something to go right or wrong or anywhere in between had practically grown instinctive. He could practically smell it when either of them were sad or mad or hurt—even happy. Jasper wasn't the most observing person and will never be, but in regards to his best friends, he'd win first place every time.

However, throughout all of his years of knowing them both, Charlotte and Henry never developed any sort of friendship with one another other than acquaintances despite being around each other since their baby teeth days. Though they never desired to hear the truth, they got along great and, shockingly enough, had plenty in common—perhaps more than Jasper does with either of them, but never did Charlotte nor Henry push one another of hanging out whenever Jasper wasn't around.

It was odd, especially since he _knows_ them, and he could just sense that they were restraining themselves from further contact with each other for some unknown reason and _damn,_ was it irritating. Sometimes, Jasper just wanted to pull his hair out because of those two and their infuriating persistence.

They've always had a dynamic he, or anyone for that matter, has never understood, even if they weren't close. Their organic pull to each other was almost something undeniable, in every sense of the word.

So when Jasper had randomly found them in a secluded hallway on his way to his first period, Charlotte against a poorly painted wall and refusing to catch Henry's eye, while Henry, barely a foot away from her, his expression tense and hardening as the minutes passed with a lingering hand held out by Charlotte's book bag, Jasper was more than shocked.

He remained silent as the tardy bell rung across the school's corridors, and so did his two friends, their movements and expressions not changing for several seconds. The lingering of students chatter now took place inside of the classrooms rather than the hallway, but Jasper couldn't pull his attention away from the odd predicament before him no matter how loud the gossiping was.

Henry took an abruptly small, practically insignificant step toward Charlotte, and just that mere movement made Charlotte tense. Jasper couldn't detain his heightening suspicion.

He hadn't hung out with neither of them all weekend, mostly due to both not answering either of his phone calls or text messages, but Jasper didn't look too deeply into it—Henry has been busy now more than ever with focusing on school and college and being the hero of Swellview since Ray was out of town for a few days for some circus-like wedding his distant cousin was having, and Charlotte was almost always occupied with her copious extracurricular activities and schoolwork in order to make sure she was set for college next year.

Jasper understood.

But now, as he watched them both stand in silence with strained expressions, Jasper had never been so conflicted in his life.

 _"Charlotte."_

Henry's hushed voice rung in Jasper's ears, his tone deeper than Jasper's ever heard it be.

Charlotte swallowed heavily, her eyes set aimlessly at Henry's chest, but not quite focusing on it.

"Charlotte," Henry repeated. "We need to talk about this."

Charlotte closed her eyes, her voice breaking. "Henry, please, not now, I—I we _can't._ "

"We can't just pretend—"

" _Yes,_ we can—"

The sound of clacking heels filled the hallway, cutting Charlotte from her sentence. Jasper shuffled towards a nearby boy's restroom, but the familiar woman's eyes were only set on the pair before her.

Their bitter English teacher Mrs. Bridal stood with her hip cocked out, arms crossed. "And why aren't you two in class?" She accused, voice stern. "You may think your voices don't travel, but trust me, they do." Jasper watched as Mrs. Bridal's eyes traveled across their close proximity, and it seemed to only increase her displeasure of their disruption.

Charlotte stared at the woman, panicked. "Sorry, Mrs. Bridal. H—Henry and I were just leaving."

Not once looking away from Charlotte, Henry hadn't spared the teacher a glance. His expression was unreadable to even Jasper. Something in his darkening eyes were running miles as he analyzed her, his jaw clenching and un-clenching repeatedly. "Charlotte—"

"Henry Hart!" Mrs. Bridal hollered once Henry made no movement away from Charlotte. "To class now! You two can save your lip-locking for after school!"

Charlotte's face went pallid, a choked cough emitting from her throat. "No— _no_ , oh god, we weren't—"

"I don't care. Get to class now."

Charlotte did not wait for Henry to move this time, instead, she shoved his hand away and practically jogged towards the other end of the hallway until she disappeared, Henry following her pathway at a much slower pace. Jasper had a gut feeling Henry's eyes never left Charlotte's figure for a second.

The teacher huffed with annoyance once Charlotte parted one way and Henry another, incoherent words leaving her lips as she stalked back to her rowdy classroom, not sparing Jasper a simple glance.

Jasper sighed, resting his head against the boy's bathroom door. What had happened between Charlotte and Henry was the most interaction, both physically and verbally, he'd witness them exchange in months. He was perplexed, that was no secret, and now his mind wouldn't quit wondering off to why Henry had been looking at her like—like he practically _needed_ something from her, and she was the only one who could deliver it.

Jasper ran a sweaty palm through his curls, standing from the door and making his way towards the classroom he shared with Henry, his gaze fixed on the spot he and Charlotte were standing on just a minute ago.

 _What the hell just happened?_

* * *

Jasper blinked his eyes once, twice, thrice, in a failing attempt to try and concentrate, but the information just wouldn't stick. He was much too caught up on the exchange between his two best friends earlier, and the fact that Henry was sitting right next to him as if nothing hadn't happened was bothering him much more than he'd like to admit.

Jasper closed his eyes tightly before opening them, his gaze flickering to the whiteboard. A few seconds hadn't even passed before the jumbling equations of calculus was being tossed into his face, his teacher talking in different languages and unteachable comprehensions. At this rate, Jasper was beginning to accept how terrible he was going to do on his calculus final. He couldn't help but think how easily Charlotte would solve every problem being displayed with no assistance.

Jasper cleared his throat quietly, turning to his left to find his best friend jolt down notes in his notebook, his eyebrows creasing into a fine line due to concentration, but even Jasper could see the vocabulary words weren't sticking to his memory, neither.

 _Maybe he was distracted, too?_

If Jasper wasn't careful, he would've missed the slight furrow of Henry's eyebrows as he paused his pencil's movements, twirling it instead, before looking up at the whiteboard and carrying on as if his routine hadn't faltered for a second or two.

Finally swallowing his hesitance, Jasper leaned towards him, but kept his vision ahead. "I, uh,"

Henry glanced at him briefly, a thick eyebrow rose. "You uh?"

Jasper swallowed spit, his eyes blinking continuously until he found his voice. "We need to talk."

Henry hummed, tapping his pencil lightly on the table as he leaned back in his chair, his eyes never leaving Jasper's. "Talk," He murmured slowly, as if the word was foreign on his tongue. "Talk about what? Is everything okay?"

Jasper grinned slightly, resting his head against his hand and paused the conversation while the teacher spoke about statistics and bar graphs with wandering eyes.

When the teacher finally turned away, Jasper looked at him. "Yeah, everything's fine. I just.. I just need you to be honest with me for a second."

Jasper has never been the intrusive type—usually, he let his friends get their respectable space when they kept things from him. He'd find out sooner or later, so there was never a reason for him to allow his curiosity eat him alive. But something like this? Concerning Charlotte and Henry associating? No—associating behind his back? It sounded peculiar, laughable, almost. And yet, what he'd observed in the hallway was nothing but the harsh reality that maybe, _maybe,_ Charlotte and Henry were much more involved in each other than they let on.

He licked his lips pensively, opening his mouth to speak, but nothing but a little stutters came out. "I—I—"

Henry couldn't help but chuckle. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Jasper just couldn't ask. At least, not now. He needed them both to be there, just to see how they'd react. He knew that going after Charlotte would be much easier. She was much more open with her expressions, and couldn't lie to Jasper to save her life without bluffing. But Henry? He could be secretive when he wanted to, even with Jasper.

Jasper nodded stiffly, "I'll talk to you about it later, alright?"

He watched as Henry watched him, his expression neutral but the slight twinkle in Henry's eye gave Jasper everything he needed to know.

Just as well as Jasper knew Henry, Henry knew Jasper, and Henry had always been able to sense when something was off, just like he had just now.

Jasper dropped his head in his arms, a muffled sigh escaping his lips. Today was _not_ starting off well.

* * *

Charlotte walked towards Jasper with a large smile plastered on her face, dropping her book bag down on the lunch table as she sat across from him. She stared at him for a few seconds before smiling larger. _"Jasper."_ She greeted cheerfully, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

Jasper raised an eyebrow, opening the fruit bowl on his lunch tray and chewing on a grape. " _Charlotte.._ "

"Guess what!"

"Mm, what?"

"Well," Charlotte shifted and turned, taking out a out a flag that had ' _Swellview High School Dance_ _Team'_ written in bold cursive, glitter on every crevice of the whole thing. "I made the dance team!" She smiled the biggest she could muster.

Jasper high-fived her. "Ah, yes. You've made the dance team for about.. three years now."

He watched as she shrugged his comment off, still smiling. "We get our costumes, shoes, dance-bag, and other essentials next month. Apparently we're supposed to be joining some sort of dance competition later on this year."

Jasper looked pleased. "Oh really? Now that's a first—"

"What is?"

Silence quickly surrounded the table as Henry took a seat next to Jasper, balancing an energy and a granola bar in his left hand.

Jasper watched as Charlotte stealthily packed her flag, her look of glee disappearing. She cleared her throat awkwardly before looking everywhere but at Henry. "I forgot I promised Sidney and Oliver I'd help them build their macaroni volcano for their science project today. _During lunch_. So I'll see you later, Jasper."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Sidney and Oliver? I thought they disappeared into oblivion? And why a macaroni volcano? Wait, I take that back. That's actually kind of cool. Couldn't they have asked me to help them?"

Charlotte blinked her eyes shut briefly, disregarding his questions. When she reopened them, she sighed impatiently. "I have to —"

Jasper couldn't contain himself anymore. "Okay, what the hell is going on with you two?"

Charlotte froze, her eyes planted on her book bag. For a brief moment, Jasper could've sworn he'd seen her eyes swell, but with a few blinks of her eyes the shininess was gone.

So, something _did_ happen.

Henry shrugged casually, ripping the granola bar paper open. "Nothing, Jas. What's giving you the idea that something is going on between us?"

If Charlotte hadn't been so noticeable, maybe Jasper would've believed him. Jasper sighed. "I've.. _seen_ things." He explained lamely. He didn't want to give himself away this soon.

"And what might those things be?"

"You know.. _things_."

"No, Jasper, I don't think I know what _things_ you're talking about."

Charlotte stood abruptly, muttering things underneath her breath. Her book bag rested against her shoulder as she played with the strap nervously. "Just what Henry said," she started, locking her eyes on Henry, who stopped mid-chew. "Nothing happened between us. Absolutely nothing. I was tutoring Henry for a little while so he could ace his astronomy final, but other than that there is nothing to be suspicious about. I don't tutor him anymore. I'll call you later, Jasper." And just like that, Charlotte was gone.

Henry resumed his movements as if Charlotte hadn't left, but the strain in his jaw gave him away.

Jasper noticed it was the little things that gave Henry away, no matter how insignificant they seemed.

They were lying to him. And for the first time in Jasper's life, he needed to figure out what was going on between them without their assistance, whether they wanted him to know or not.


	2. Chapter Two

_so I've updated, which basically just means I actually kind of like this story and I'm gonna proceed with it :-)_

 _A/N: So in this chapter i wrote a little throwback that you'll see in in italics a bit later, just so you guys could see Henry and Charlotte's dynamic and growth through their study sessions. Story wise, the throwbacks aren't too long ago, it's about a week or so prior._

 _Also, while writing this, the first draft I did for this chapter(which, at the time, I really liked) mysteriously did not save in my documents which basically meant i had to rewrite the whole thing so I sat there, pondering, of whether or not I should slam my computer against the wall out of rage or just rewrite the whole thing. And as you can see, I just chose to rewrite since it doesn't cost lol. And i'm glad i did! Because this one is sooooo much better!_

 _As always, thank you so much for taking the time out to read my story :-) i appreciate it!_

* * *

Chapter Two / Henry

At first, their meetings were innocent.

He needed information regarding the simple things you'd learn in a basic Astronomy class and more often than not, Henry allowed the teacher's information he taught to go in one ear and out the other. And for a while, that tactic had worked, until his teacher vocalized that their final was going to be on everything he taught their first semester.

And after that, Henry wasn't so confident he'd keep his C in the class—which seemed to be lowering as the months passed because he could never complete his homework and _damn_ was saving Swellview a tiring yet wonderful job. But there was no way he'd flunk that class, not after having to be tortured with Mr. Hennig's monotone voice and students going on about the school's daily gossip and who was on the smash list this week.

 _Hell no._

So, he asked Charlotte to tutor him. Which, by the way, was _completely_ reasonable. She's the smartest girl in his grade—school, perhaps, and he just so happened to be acquainted with her. The tutoring was casual— _innocent_ —in every phrase of the word and _strictly_ tutoring. So there was no need to tell Jasper.

No matter how openly suspicious Jasper grew, Henry would deny all of his accusations because they were just _silly_. Him and Charlotte were acquaintances, the slimmest affiliation of friends on a very good day, perhaps, but anything else was just _wrong._

 _"Let's go over some basic knowledge regarding.. Mm," Charlotte murmured, chewing on her nail while staring down at Henry's sloppy notes. "The hypothetical creations of stars? Planets? Black holes? Brown dwarfs? Take your pick."_

 _Henry yawned, his droopy eyes struggling to stay open. "How about the hypothetical creation of I'm tired. You've been tutoring me for an hour now. My brain is filled with plenty of information regarding stars and planets and black holes and.. brown dwarfs."_

 _Henry watched as she placed her mechanical pencil behind her ear, a stray curl falling into her eyesight. "Hey, those exist!"_

 _"Yes, Charlotte, I know. We went over them two days ago."_

 _Charlotte adjusted herself on his bed, tucking her chin underneath her palms. "How about a quick oral quiz regarding.." She flipped a page in his notes, blinking. "The Milky Way and Andromeda's eventual universe collision? Or, or.." She flipped another page and Henry couldn't help but sigh._

 _"How about the multi-verse? We can discuss the possibility of other living creatures and your assumption on their laws of physics, nature, communication, mathematics, even their possible interpretations of different planets or universes or multi-verses. Sort of like what we're doing now. Though.." Charlotte trailed off, biting her lower lip as she flipped his note pages, her eyes following them. "There is a possibility your teacher doesn't believe in aliens which could decrease your chances in getting a high grade if he disagrees with your abstracts. Tell me, Henry, does your teacher believe in aliens?"_

 _Her nails were tapping against his notebook impatiently, her eyes wide. Henry could observe her for a lifetime._

 _"Um," Henry shrugged. "I think?"_

 _"Great! So this just means we have to double up on our research regarding multi-verses. There are infinite possibilities and millions of ways we could do this. Should we aim towards focusing on their possible laws of physics? Mathematics? Communication? Nature? Or perhaps all of them? You know what could broaden our minds with different totalities? Space films. Some movies like Star Wars, Apollo, Interstellar_ — _Oh! And anime's! Those are great sources too! We could also use some comic book characters like The Flash, he's been_ — _"_

 _"Charlotte."_

 _Henry watched as she stopped abruptly, her twinkling eyes looking at him as if he'd betrayed her. He doesn't think he's ever met someone so enthusiastic about studying, and it wasn't even the type of studying that benefits her. Charlotte didn't take astronomy her final year, and she seemed more excited about Henry earning a good grade than he was._

 _The more time he spent around her, the more he witnessed her subconsciously enter her own universe. She'd change her sitting positions every couple of minutes, she'd bite her nails whenever she was really focused, and, most importantly, she'd ramble. Charlotte seemed to be talking to herself more than him most of the time, and sometimes Henry felt like the one intruding on_ her _study session._

 _Her breath quickened once she realized how much she'd been talking, her eyes concentrating on the patterns of his hardwood floor. "Sorry, I just got a bit too excited there. What is it that you'd like to go over?"_

 _Henry attempted to meet her gaze. "Charlotte, can we just pick up on this tomorrow? I'm feeling a bit more tired than usual." And it was true, just a few minutes before Charlotte had shown up to his house, he had to deal with a four year old being stuck on a roof of a three story home. How the child even got up there was still a mystery to him. But regardless, it was not an easy task getting a frightened four year old down from a leaning roof. "Besides, my final is almost two weeks from now. We have time."_

 _Charlotte shot him a blank stare. "You know, I didn't get this smart by studying for my finals two weeks before."_

 _Henry couldn't contain his eye roll. "Oh, yes, because Almighty Charlotte studies months, no! Years before her finals! After all, those A's she receives guarantee her already secured spot into Berkeley! Or is is Brown? Princeton? Harvard? Oh wait no, no, no, Yale?"_

 _"Oh, please. There is no need to be an ass. Where I go after high school is none of your concern and I'd appreciate it if you'd quit making fun of me. I'm just trying to help you."_

 _Henry stared at her through his eyelashes, irritation contorting his features. "Yeah? Well I'm done for today, Einstein. So now I'm kicking you out." Henry hadn't meant for his comment to come out so coarse, but he didn't bother taking it back._

 _Charlotte stood from his bed, tearing her eyes away from his before packing up her things hastily. "I didn't realize trying to help others succeed was such a scornful thing to do. Don't bother asking me for further tutoring sessions, because the answer will be no." She hitched her book bag on her shoulder securely, aiming for the door without another glance in his direction._

 _Henry went after her, his feet moving before he could even form a coherent thought, then grabbed onto her wrist softly. "Jesus, Charlotte. I'm sorry. That came out much harsher than I intended it to."_

 _Charlotte jerked her wrist away, glaring. "It's fine, Henry. Now let me leave in peace. Or are you going to insult me while I do that, too?"_

 _Henry ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "See? "This is exactly why we can't fucking get along, Charlotte. You're so over-dramatic and_ — _"_

 _Charlotte whipped around, her eyes glazing with fury. "I'm over-dramatic? Really? I come over to your house everyday for hours after school this past week to help you study for your finals! I'm barely studying for my own and I also have to do my extra-curricular work, my schoolwork, and practice for my dance audition coming up along with other shit going on that you don't need to know about and I'm being over-dramatic because you want to quit tutoring for today after one measly hour? Really, Henry? I haven't once complained to you about anything, nor have I judged you for knowing little to nothing about astronomy after being in the class for months. But if I'm being over-dramatic then I guess I'll go home and finally put my own priorities before yours."_

 _She turned back around, jumbled up words uttering from her throat as she turned his doorknob, only to be stopped by his hand landing on top of hers._

 _"Charlotte," He said, much softer than he thought, "I didn't mean_ — _"_

 _"Of course you didn't, Henry. Because you never mean anything you say to me. You didn't when we were kids, and you don't now. So what's the point? What the hell is the point in you trying to make me feel better with your.. your.. obtuse apology?"_

 _"I'm_ sorry, _Charlotte. I didn't mean it that way. I'm just.."_

 _"You're just what?"_

 _Henry closed his eyes briefly, swearing. "I'm not used to always having to be around someone who excels at literally everything she tries, is all. I'm not.. I'm not used to someone motivating me to do well in school all the time. I've been so busy doing other things lately and studying has always been something I put last. I'm not trying to waste your time, Charlotte."_

 _He watched as she parted her lips but nothing came out, her eyes staring into his for what felt like eternity._

 _Then, she removed his hand from hers and turned the knob, walking away._

 _Henry swore for the umpteenth time that afternoon as he debated going after her, his energy wearing thin. His grade was definitely going to plummet without her help._

 _"Hey, Henry?"_

 _He looked up, eyebrows raised. Charlotte stood at the end of his hallway, twirling the ends of her shirt nervously. "I'll be back tomorrow with plenty of vocabulary words for you to learn, a couple of space related movies, and the study guide I used when I took astronomy. I also plan on being here for much longer than an hour, so we won't be wasting each other's time."_

 _Henry could've smiled._

 _"Oh, and next time, try coming up with a better apology. You attempting to boost my intelligence ego didn't work very well. I'll see you tomorrow."_

 _Henry walked back into his room and collapsed on his bed, the aroma smelling of lavender and grace and magic and galaxies and anything else Charlotte was made out of._

* * *

Henry didn't mind surprises. In fact, he's experienced plenty in his lifetime—being the older sibling of Piper(who gave him at least five heart attacks a day), dealing with Ray's unpredictable behavior, Schwoz's peculiar yet oddly convenient inventions, and _Jasper,_ it was practically built in him to prepare for crazy things to randomly happen or go wrong.

But, when his watch went off in the middle of art class, his paintbrush frozen in midair, he had never been so taken aback in his lifetime.

During their current prepping of finals week and actual finals week, Ray typically took care of saving Swellview during school hours. It took Henry a while to explain why those weeks were so crucial, but eventually Ray understood. But now, with Ray gone off to some sketchy wedding for his distant cousin, it was just him.

"Henry Hart," Ms. Kawasa's glare could've shot lasers through him. "What is that thing beeping on your wrist and why is it disrupting my class?"

Kawasa's vibrato voice sent triggers through his body as his breath quickened, his paint brush dropping down by his shoe, long forgotten. "I," Henry breathed deeply, tripping over his own backpack before standing. "I forgot to tell you, the principal actually needed to see me halfway through the period and I set a reminder for myself. I guess I also forgot to put that alarm on silent and tell you about me having to go see her.. right now."

Kawasa seemed skeptical of his _little_ white lie. "Mm, for what exactly? Your final is shortly coming up, so why would the principal ask for you right now?"

Henry caught a glimpse of Charlotte in his peripheral view before he could even think of a rational reply, her curious eyes focused on him. The little(and uncommon) dress she wore rose slightly up her thigh as she crossed one leg over the other, her chocolate skin being highlighted by the sun's glare—

"Henry Hart!"

Henry blinked, cursing underneath his breath. "I've gotta go, Kawasa. I'll take the detention, the suspension, whatever you want to punish me with, but I can't keep your boss waiting." Then he shuffled out, shoving his hand inside of his pocket before pulling out his bubblegum and cellphone.

Jasper had a free period, which meant he could help him get out of the predicament he was caught up in. If Henry played his cards right, his A in art would remain and the impromptu rescuing he needed to do would go smoothly.

Henry dialed Jasper's number as he chewed on his gum, praying he was somewhere nearby.

After three rings, Jasper picked up. "Hello?" He said, his voice slightly muffled.

"Jasper, I need you to pretend to be me to the principal for the next twenty minutes."

Jasper scoffed. "Pretend to be you? We look nothing alike! I'm way better looking than you are. There is no way—"

"Jasper! Just fucking do it! My watch went off in the middle of class! Kawasa's probably going to be calling up there soon and I need you to help me out here. My I.D. is in my locker, you know the code."

Jasper grumbled, the sound of shuffling being heard as Henry ran out the school's premises, transforming in between two large bushes. "Did you get there?" Henry asked impatiently, tapping a few keys on his watch for the directions Schwoz sent him.

He heard the sound of a locker slamming shut, then more shuffling. "I've got your I.D., and I took one of your beanies so I could disguise my curly hair. Trust me, this will work. Call me back in fifteen."

"I owe you big time." Henry hung up without further conversation.

Henry Hart was used to the multi-tasking, he's done it for years now. He was used to fighting crime with the possibility of him not surviving weighing heavy on his mind, especially when he wasn't fighting alongside Ray. Overtime, that fright had quickly grown into acceptance, after all, all of his sacrifices was for the safety of Swellview. There was not much of a better reason than that.

But, one thing Henry has never been used to was constantly thinking about the curly-headed genius and the dress she wore and how it rose up her thigh, her face set pensively whenever she'd paint, and how always, _always,_ there would be a stray dot of paint splattered across her cheek and she'd never even notice.

Almost every Charlotte Henry's encountered were dainty, pretty girls who loved looking at aesthetic videos and wore floral, but the Charlotte he knew, _his_ Charlotte, preferred to watch videos that involved space, science, landscape, politics, even math. She was confident, intelligent, and the most stunning girl he'd even seen.

And that was exactly why he had to let her go.

Henry picked up the speed to his destination, his muscles clenching as he failed to drown out that familiar, captivating smile.


	3. Chapter Three

_A/N: Here's another chapter! This time in Charlotte's POV. It's been really cool for me personally to explore Henry, Charlotte, and Jasper's personalities, especially in an AU, because i can sort of alter them how i'd like and how i feel best suits the story which is really great. ANYWAY hope you guys enjoy! Thank you so much for reading :-)_

** _Flashbacks are_ _ **not**_ _in order_.**

 _ **Heads Up**_ _: This chapter is pretty angst-y and there is no Henry(physically, at least) in this chapter—only flashbacks and thoughts of him._

 _Btw thank you to everyone who left reviews! I truly appreciate them all so much and I'm sososo happy you guys are liking this completely impromptu story i just decided to make (and post) the one night i couldn't sleep omg_

* * *

Chapter Three / Charlotte

"Hey Charlotte, what do you think of my macaroni 'stache? Is it cool? Nice? Edible looking?" Sidney leaned in closer, an eyebrow raised suggestively. _"Arresting?"_

Charlotte's eye's could've rolled behind her head. "Sidney, can you please focus? I've been working on _your_ portion of _your_ science project for fifteen minutes now."

Sidney echoed a loud _pft_ , loose macaroni pieces falling to the floor once he opened his mouth wide. "Oh please, _Char,"_ He moved in close to her ear, shivering. "Hm, you smell good. What is that glorious scent? It's intoxicating, excruciatingly heavenly! It's—"

"—Macaroni. Remember? You threw a bowl of stale macaroni on me earlier."

Oliver _hmphed_ from across the room, his fingers coated in cooked macaroni as he glued them to the five foot plastic volcano propped on top of the teacher's desk. "Which I could've used to cover this volcano, but _nooooo,_ Sidney is just _so_ desperate for female attention!"

"It's not my fault the ladies love me!"

Charlotte sighed, nudging Sidney closer. "Sidney, you stir this pot of macaroni, okay? I'll be over here helping Oliver—"

"Ha!" Oliver cut her off, pointing an accusing finger at Sidney, macaroni falling to the floor. "The lady loves me!"

"She does not!"

Charlotte massaged her temples as she closed her eyes temporarily, the bickering between the two boys not ceasing. She's been helping them since school had let out two hours ago, boiling endless macaroni that would typically end up smashed by Sidney's careless footing or him dumping a whole pot of macaroni on her. Oliver was being as productive as an Oliver could get: gluing his fingers together rather than the macaroni's to the volcano, hip thrusting to the sound of the reggae music being blasted lowly through the cooking teacher's speaker's, and, well, ranting to them both on the _hoax_ of healthy fats. It had been an unending cycle for the pass two hours, something Charlotte was not used to.

Typically, she'd spend thirty minutes tops with them to help build their volcano, but since she had a club meeting to attend today at lunch, she promised them she'd come after school and help.

This is _not_ what she had expected.

Oliver held an empty tray in front of his face as Sidney threw the macaroni sticking to his face at him, curse words being thrown between the two that could probably be heard all across the hall.

Charlotte walked towards Sidney, her hands tempted to ball into fists. "Sidney, stop!" She smacked his hands, a soft gasp coming from him. "We're supposed to be working on this macaroni volcano! Not throwing—"

Sidney threw a macaroni at her face, his lips pursed. "So this is how we're going to start out our relationship Charlotte? With a petty argument?"

Charlotte fumed, wiping the macaroni from her cheek. "We are _not_ in a relationship! Now can you please just—"

She watched as Jasper walked into the classroom, his eyes following the copious macaroni pieces scattered across the tile. He stared at Charlotte, his eyes full of curiosity. "Um, knock knock?"

Charlotte ran towards him, her arms wrapped around his torso loosely. "I have never been so relieved to see you! These two—" She pointed to Sidney and Oliver, their bickering starting again. "Won't quit bickering!"

Jasper blinked. "So in other words they won't quit being Sidney and Oliver?"

 _"Yes!"_

Jasper stared at the bare volcano, only a couple dozen macaroni's in total sticking permanently to it. "Well, I have come to rescue you, dear Charlotte."

Charlotte wasted no time as she practically jogged towards her bookbag, sliding it on her shoulder with ease. "Great! Let's go now!" She grabbed Jasper's wrist, quickly telling the bickering boys the cleaning supplies were in the far left corner on the teacher's cabinet, which she doubted they even heard.

She left with Jasper anyway, her hold loosening on his wrist once they successfully made it into the hallway. "Let me guess, you drove here in that old, bucket car of yours?"

Jasper stared at her, eyes wide. "Hey! My car is fully dependable and _not_ old!"

Charlotte laughed. "I beg to differ. I've almost died inside that thing a handful of times. When was it made again? Was it seventeen-sixty-five or seventeen-sixty-six?"

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Haha, very funny."

She offered him a lazy grin, walking further. Catching the sight of a couple sitting against the lockers on the far right end of the hallway, next to the exist, cuddling against one another, she swallowed.

Charlotte had stared at them much longer than necessary, one hand of hers covering the other and she caressed it softly, inhaling shakily.

The couple smiled at each other, faintly, softly, _happily,_ their eyes gazing at one another in silence, in love, in adoration.

She watched, not daring to blink, not daring to allow her aching heart to yearn for _that._

When she finally tore her eyes away, she had noticed she and Jasper had stopped walking, his amber eyes planted on her. "Charlotte?" He called softly, as if frightened to scare her away.

Charlotte's eyes fluttered close as the memories flowed back to her, and she attempted to wash away the reverie's in a desperate plea. The unshed tears behind her lids failed to go away, persisting to be shown.

Jasper's hands wrapped around her carefully as he murmured whispers she couldn't comprehend, but his soothing voice sent comforting vibrations through her ears. She leaned into him, her eyelids quivering. "It's okay." She could make out through his soft whispers faintly, and it calmed her.

Charlotte pushed him away gently, her eyes opening once she was certain the tears had vanished. "I'm sorry," She said with a slight crack in her voice. "I just thought of something—"

"Charlotte," Jasper grabbed a hold of her wrists, his eyes soft and desperate. "What's going on with you? Talk to me."

She shook her head as she pulled herself away from his comfort, her head beginning to hurt. "I'm sorry, Jasper. I'm just thinking about my parents and it's getting me emotional."

Jasper's expression switched, unconvinced. "I saw you staring at that couple, Char. You can tell me if something is wrong—"

 _"Nothing is wrong!"_

Her voice vibrated through the empty hall, catching the couples attention. She didn't mean to snap, not intentionally, especially not at Jasper. Out of everyone, he was the one who deserved to know the truth. But Charlotte just couldn't bear it. She couldn't hold herself together long enough. She wasn't strong enough to reminisce on what had been.

She sighed, attempting to regroup. "I didn't mean—"

Jasper nodded, and that's all she had to say.

Charlotte was able to hold herself together this whole week, the tears long gone, the heartache kept purposely at the back of her thoughts. If she would've known a simple glance at a happy couple would've triggered her hurt, especially in front of Jasper, she would've promised Sidney and Oliver she'd help them first thing the next day during lunch instead of after school today.

 _(Charlotte, we can't just pretend—)_

She closed her eyes briefly before reopening them, a slight scowl on her face. She began to walk again, Jasper following slightly behind, his eyes burning holes in the back of her skull.

Her heart weighed heavy as she continued to walk, her eyes staying forward in concentration as she passed the happy couple, their unsteady gazes flickering to her only for a second, and Charlotte almost wanted to explode in that brief moment.

When she had made it outside, she walked to Jasper's bucket of a car with her face stern and eyes dull, attempting to disregard the heavy ache in her chest.

* * *

Charlotte walked into her house with the face she presented to the outside world gone, her book bag falling carelessly by the door. The house was silent, the stale air suffocating her as she trudged herself to her room, falling onto her bed silently.

The one, single afternoon she had to herself with no practice, no studying, no anything, just _had_ to be like this. Her house empty like it always was, her thoughts clouded with him and what they temporarily had, her body numb. Charlotte didn't even want to think of studying. Her heart was running unending miles, something her mind couldn't quite cease, no matter how hard she tried to block him out.

Finally, she stood, her phone beeping. She answered it, not bothering to check who it was. She _knew_ who it was.

"What is it, Jasper?"

"Do you need company tonight? I don't see your mom's car in the driveway."

Charlotte bit her lip softly, pacing. Having Jasper over for the night meant rewearing the mask she'd been showing this whole week, and with everything weighing heavily on her mind at the moment, she was too exhausted to even try to hide her hurt anymore.

"Char? I have a few movies in my car if you want to watch them together. I think I even have Star Wars—"

She closed her eyes, sniffling. "I'm okay Jas, I promise." And then she hung up, the tears she'd been holding back making a successful attempt to show again.

 _"You ever had your heartbroken?" Henry lounged carelessly on her bed as she twiddled with the fabric of her blanket, laying beside him._

 _When she looked up, he was already looking down at her, his pupils dilated. "Hm?" She said, her thoughts drowning in those damn eyes._

 _"I said," Henry adjusted himself, his hand resting timidly on her thigh. "Have you ever had your heart broken?"_

 _Charlotte thought of her parents, a slight frown forming across her face._

 _Then she thought of Jasper Dunlop, her best friend, and she smiled._

 _But when she looked up at the dirty blond before her very eyes, his parted lips, his tan skin, his lanky physique, she couldn't help but allow her heart to beat with glee, the hurt she's ever felt practically unrecognizable._

 _"Heartbreak is the only thing I've ever seemed to know," She chewed on her nail, forcing herself to look away from him. "It's something everyone suffers with at one point in time if they live long enough to reach their segment in heartbreak, and it's one of the most brutal things anyone could ever endure. I suppose my segment still seems to have a liking to me and my distress."_

 _Charlotte's face heated once Henry took his hand into hers, his thumb caressing hers softly. "But," She swallowed thickly. "When I think of Jasper," She closed her eyes, wondering how she could ever feel this blissful. "And when I think of you, Henry, I forget what heartache feels like. I forget what anything feels like. There is.." She licked her lips. "There is nothing to describe you two. Nothing."_

 _Henry stared down at her, his eyes blazing with pure admiration and shininess and contentment. He opened his mouth and closed it repeatedly, ending up saying nothing. But Charlotte could see everything,_ everything _he wanted to tell her through those eyes of his, and she began to wonder how someone could have such beautiful and expressive eyes like Henry's. He kept his mouth shut, his eyes never daring to leave hers, and leaned down instead._

 _Their lips were centimeters apart, barely brushing, and Charlotte closed her eyes, drowning in his scent, drowning in the man who somehow found a way to appreciate her despite her copious flaws._

 _It took Charlotte all of her will to lean away from him before they could pursue anything, clearing her throat. "We should finish studying."_

 _Henry stared her down, eyes dark and focused only on her. "Later."_

 _"Henry.." Charlotte groaned, his arms wrapping around her like a shield so she couldn't escape. A breathy laugh emitted from her throat once he kissed her cheek, then her forehead, then her ear._

 _"Stay with me," He implored, almost much too low for her to hear. "Please."_

 _"Stay with me, Charlotte. No matter what."_

Charlotte's eyes opened, the ceiling staring back at her. She wasn't supposed to allow herself to drown in his memories, in his lies, in his broken promises.

And yet, she couldn't help but shiver as the memories poured through her mind as if they all occurred just yesterday. Charlotte stared at the pile of books in a messy heap near the corner of her room, tempting her to finally study, but not as much— _never_ as much as he could tempt her.

The day quickly fell into night, her dinging phone full of messages from Jasper slowly coming to a halt.

Charlotte allowed herself to finally breathe, to finally think of him, and for now that was enough. The weight on her shoulder's disappeared, and so did her tears.

Charlotte took a nice, warm bath filled with candles and bath bombs and flower petals and _anything else_ to help her soothe her mood. She ate her favorite TV dinner, laughed at cartoons, and her heavy eyes fell asleep to the sound of the deafening silence in her home.

 _(Charlotte, we need to talk about this.)_

Charlotte wanted nothing more than to forget. There was nothing to talk about—nothing to even revision anymore. She wanted distance, not closure, and that was that.

There was _nothing_ to talk about.

She tossed and turned that night, her mind tormenting itself in the endless cycle of the sweet nothings he had once whispered in her ear tenderly during the darkest hours of the night.


	4. Chapter Four

Hiiiiii I've updated!

Sooo I do want to say a couple things about this story that I have not yet clarified (which I should've done earlier) to avoid confusing any of you!

a) I have not yet displayed everything going/has gone on between Charlotte and Henry, but no worries because I WILL be exposing EVERYTHING as the story progresses!

b) if anything sounds confusing i assure you it will be answered later in further chapters. But if you do need clarification on something that you might think I won't touch up on later, feel free to message me!

c) there will be a lot of angst-y parts(including this chapter), especially in near future chapters just to give you guys a heads up and i hope it doesn't turn you guys off too much! It just really goes with the story line but I assure you guys not everything will be heavy. there will be many light-hearted things too.

I just wanted to clear those things up. And thank you guys so much for the reviews. I appreciate them :-)

I hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Four / Jasper

It didn't take rocket science for Jasper to realize Charlotte has been avoiding him. A quick wave in between classes and an occasional greeting was all they seemed to do these passed few days. Whenever he'd invite her over to his house when he was _certain_ she wasn't busy, she'd turn him down anyway, a quick, non-hesitant refusal of her saying she was too busy studying for finals always being her excuse.

During lunch, she'd stay in the cooking room with Sidney and Oliver, gluing macaroni's to the volcano and trying her best to avert the two boys from bickering with each other once their egos were poked.

Charlotte didn't even answer his calls or texts anymore, and Jasper knew it wasn't because of her busy schedule. He's seen her (in the most un-stalkerish way) on her phone plenty of times during school hours. So her excuse for being occupied with other things didn't cut it. Not this time at least.

Jasper was tired of it.

Something had happened to Charlotte, something seemingly dreadful, that she wasn't telling him. The breakdown she endured just a few days ago in front of him confirmed that. The tearful, anguished look in her eye, the tremor in her voice, her wobbly steps, something.. something.

Something was wrong and _damn_ did he want her to tell him. Jasper wanted her to, for once, just expose herself—all of the hatred she swallowed down, the sadness in her heart, her untold secrets—to him.

Jasper was definitely not the best person to console to, sure, but he was aware of the immense responsibility being a good best friend was and that's all he's ever wanted to be.

He's never pushed for Charlotte to reveal personal information to him. Hell, he's never even intervened on why her parents were never fucking home, but something like this? Something that made strong, confident, independent Charlotte to breakdown so terribly? It was practically impossible to not force _something_ out of her about it.

So, Jasper decided to pay her a little visit after school. He already knew where to find her on days like these—the art room. She was apart of the _'Amateur Art Association'_ (since Charlotte was the president of this _association,_ Jasper figured she could've just said club instead of being so extra, but she informed him that almost half of the people in the 'association' were alliteration geeks and voted for that name so she went with it) and on odd schooldays, her and the group always met up after school for a couple hours until Charlotte had to leave for dance practice.

Usually Jasper didn't see Charlotte much during odd days. She had an archery club meeting before school began, then attended school, and after school her art club, then dance practice after that and finally she'd go home during the early peek of night and would study until she passed out. And that was just for odd days. Jasper didn't know how she found the motivation to do everything so consistently, _everyday of the week._

But today was different. Jasper was going to talk to her whether she liked it or not and get something out of her. And the best way to do that was to bring Henry along.

Henry walked alongside him solemnly, unaware of his crucial position. "So," He drawled. "Where we going? We told Schwoz we'd try out his new invention after school. Today."

Jasper was much too distracted to even offer Henry a feigned look of guilt. "It's gonna have to be prolonged until I finish talking to Charlotte." Jasper decided adding the 'we' would've complicated things further. The last thing he needed was Henry spazzing out before they even arrive.

But Jasper had a plan. And he was determined to make it work. If his friends weren't going to sort it out and talk together, he'd make them.

"What do you need to talk to Charlotte about?"

Jasper continued walking even after Henry began lagging slightly behind, ignoring his question. When he finally made it to the art room, he poked his head inside to see the classroom was vacant with the exception of his best friend. Charlotte was propping up her canvas carefully on its easel and arranging the paint bottles neatly in the center of the room, paying Jasper's presence little mind.

If anything was going to get done, he'd have to do it now before any of Charlotte's art friends showed up.

Jasper grasped onto Henry's wrist and led him inside the classroom. "Charlotte, all three of us are talking right now." He couldn't help but think how much better that sounded in his head.

Henry faltered. "All three? You said—"

"I lied!" Jasper snapped, "I know something happened between you two. So we're all gonna have a nice talk about it."

Charlotte's eyebrows furrowed into a firm line, stalking her way towards them. "What?" She asked in a pitched voice, not understanding. "What did you just say?"

"Charlotte, all three of us are—"

"No no, after that."

"I know something happened between you two—"

Her eyes snapped to Henry's in an instant, cutting Jasper off. "You _told_ him? You said we'd never speak anything of it again. You said we'd forget about it! You—" Her voice broke off as she walked towards him, her eyes squinting into slits. "God, you're such an ass sometimes!"

Henry pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling. "Charlotte, I haven't told Jasper anything."

"Then how come out of nowhere he drops by the art room with _you_ by his side questioning me on—"

"I don't fucking know! Why don't you ask him? I'm just as confused as you are!"

"Bullshit, Henry! You're so fucking full of shit sometimes. You said we'd forget about it. Aren't _you_ the one who initiated everything stopping in the first place?"

Henry looked at her with hooded eyes, her words pinching a nerve. "You know I never meant it like that, Charlotte."

 _If the two of them come out of this unscathed,_ Jasper thought, _Maybe they'd finally quit beating around the bush about what they were trying to keep so fucking classified and actually reveal it._ His stomach growled. _And maybe afterwards we could grab something to eat.. maybe a burger? With a side of fries and a shake.. that sounds good.._

"Henry didn't tell me anything," Jasper intervened, Charlotte's eyes staying fixed on Henry regardless. "I figured it out on my own. You two were acting too weird for me to not be suspicious. The fidgeting? The very noticeable awkward tension? The talking in hallways? It wasn't too hard to catch. You two would maketerrible spies."

Jasper stared at them both as they eyed each other, looking as if they hadn't even heard him. It just didn't..

"And may I add, the staring contests. Sort of like what you guys are doing now."

Charlotte cursed underneath her breath before tearing her eyes away, attempting to occupy herself with a couple art supplies resting inside a closet nearby. "You two need to go. I have people coming in soon and the last thing they need to see is a soap opera going on."

"Charlotte we need to talk about this." Jasper touched her arm softly, which she shrugged off, obviously irritated.

"I am not discussing this anymore. Nothing happened."

Henry leaned against a desk, intertwining his fingers loosely as he stared at Charlotte's back. "And this is why we can't even be civil with each other anymore. You're dismissing everything, not wanting to talk about it and yet you still feel everything all at once and hold it in. It's not healthy and it doesn't help anything."

Charlotte scoffed. "What are you? My therapist? I don't think I called Dr. Phil for his personal insight on whether or not my method for handling things is right or wrong."

Henry stood and walked over to her, staring at her pointedly. "You know that's not what I meant. We've discussed this, Charlotte. We've—"

Charlotte put distance between the both of them, swallowing. "I said I'm done, Henry. Stop—stop trying to bring up things I don't want to think about. That I never want to think about again, okay?" Charlotte was reaching her limit. Why couldn't he just _understand?_

Jasper watched as Henry closed the distance again, his face softening with his lips parted slightly. Charlotte's hands were shaking as she attempted to appear unfazed, but Jasper knew her. She was less than okay.

Jasper observed how Henry treated her once she had began trembling, possibly fighting tears, Henry's hands touching her waist faintly, as if reluctant to apply any pressure. His eyes stayed planted on her even if she refused to meet his eye, but never moved away from Henry's close proximity.

Jasper knew how Charlotte got when she's reached her limit, even if she never wanted to admit it. Like the first time Charlotte's mom had left her home alone for days, or when her parents wouldn't quit fighting, Jasper was there when she was holding back tears, shaking uncontrollably, holding her for as long as she wanted him to.

She stood tall though, despite her crumbling shield.

The glances that were once clouded with hatred and emptiness slowly drawled itself away, the longing that was once trapped behind their irritation becoming much more apparent. With pupils dilated and cheeks heated, Henry softly uttered Charlotte's name repeatedly and she nodded, looking him in the eye.

He watched Henry lean into the crook of her neck and inhale, murmuring words to her before slowly lifting his head back up, catching her eye again.

Jasper wasn't sure how long they stayed in that position exactly, but he had came to the conclusion that they were doing some weird, mind chat thing by the way there were only communicating with their eyes and questionable (to Jasper, at least) facial expressions. Jasper could bet their psychological conversation probably involved plenty of _"Henry I'm fine,"'s_ and _"Charlotte, you're not,"'s._

It wasn't until a few people walked in was when Charlotte practically jumped away from him, Henry's arms falling limply by his sides as he watched her leave to greet them enthusiastically. She gestured them to some new paint brushes she'd brought and a cool painting she thought they could try to imitate. It was as if her guard had never fell.

Jasper watched Henry's still engrossed look on Charlotte, and he began to wonder just how close they had gotten before their fallout. It was odd, how close they'd gotten so quickly without his assistance. And when they _were_ close, he hadn't even witnessed it.

Jasper could've scoffed. _Of course_ he'd missed it.

But nonetheless, Jasper had several questions to ask his friends. After all, this had done nothing but heighten his confusion. They were entranced with each other, fighting it away with harsh words and hatred filled eyes but it always seemed to vanish after a while, the longing and breathlessness always revealing itself in the end.

Jasper didn't understand, he didn't even know _how_ they got to this.. _mind-reading_ spot, but he knew it was not a good time to ask Henry or Charlotte any questions about it now.

* * *

When he and Henry made it inside of his car, silent and confused and dazed, he could tell Henry was not in the mood for much conversation. The only words Henry had uttered since they left the classroom was him asking Jasper if he could call Schwoz for him and tell him he couldn't make it today after school, then asked Jasper to take him home.

Jasper didn't think Henry was upset with him or anything, but he knew Charlotte was weighing heavily on his mind and Jasper couldn't help but feel guilty. Perhaps he hadn't gone at their feud in the _best_ way, but Jasper knew that if he didn't push for anything, Charlotte and Henry was going to dance around the truth until it was too late to finally forgive and forget.

Charlotte held her problems in too much and Henry was much more secretive than people gave him credit for. Jasper was only one person—a person who was far from any sort of therapeutic vibes, too. That was displayed from his impulsive move on barging into Charlotte's art association with demands on them talking through their issues when he wasn't even sure just how deep they were to begin with.

Henry nudged his shoulder to get his attention, his temple resting against the palm of his hand. "Hey, don't blame yourself for anything. You were just trying to help."

Jasper smiled slightly, "Maybe it'd be best for me to just wait until you guys are truly ready to tell me what happened. I'm sorry."

Henry waved him off. "No apologies, Dunlop. And it's not that I have a problem telling you. It's just.."

Jasper watched Henry struggle for the right word. "It hurts?"

"A lot, Jas. I, I truly fucked up this time around." Henry sighed out, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

Jasper shifted, sticking his key in the ignition before pausing. "Can I ask you something?"

Henry shrugged nonchalantly. "Shoot."

"Have you guys tried mending things? You know, without me meddling in?"

Henry slowly opened his eyes, "I have plenty of times. But some things can't just be forgiven over night. They need time. _She_ needs time," Henry ran his hands through his hair before looking at his best friend. "I fucked up, Jas. I fucked up big time." Henry said in an exhausted tone, his voice cracking.

Henry fucking up had been insinuated a couple of times before, but not from the mouth of the man himself.

Though it did hurt Jasper on how reclusive and distant his friends were being with him about this and whatever they had prior to it, he understood their decision. They wanted their privacy for now and eventually they'd come around and tell him. At least, he hoped they would soon enough.

Jasper felt like a broken record.

He pulled out of the school's parking lot, not feeling like pestering anymore than he has today. His plan was definitely still in motion, it just needed.. _major_ adjustments.

"How about a movie night tonight?" Jasper suggested after a while. "We can watch whatever movies you'd like. And we'll watch until.. well, we either pass out or you get notified to go do some saving."

"We both know how these movie nights end. You always wanna watch something Samuel L. Jackson related. So who's _really_ picking the movie here?"

"Still you," Jasper grinned. "This time, I'll only suggest one movie with the goat himself in it. But just this one time, Henry Hart."

Henry rolled his eyes, smiling. "Yeah yeah."

Jasper couldn't get their recent exchange out of his head. The looks, the exchange of looks, the goddamn _mind-chatting_ they were doing. There was no way— _no way_ Jasper was letting this go.

But, he'd wait until they were ready.

(But the faint voice in the back of his head kept asking the same unanswered question. Does Piper—the most intrusive Hart of all—know about any of it? And just how much did she know?)


	5. Chapter Five

_(A new character is added! Hurray for more DRAMA!)_

 _I figured out the way I'm gonna lead this story and I'm very excited for it. It will be pretty heavy for some people but my story does have its rating for a reason. Y'all better prepare for drama because it's gonna get juicy real quick._

 _But I have what I'm doing with this story set in stone, so this is amazing omg._

 _Thank you guys for all the love :-) Hope you all enjoy._

* * *

Chapter Five / Henry

"This is not okay!"

Piper Hart stood in the center of the living room with heated cheeks, her feral blonde tresses falling into her face as she puffed air in and out angrily. The tank-top strap of her shirt had fallen halfway down her forearm as she hastily threw the couch pillows at the intruding boys, screaming out in frustration.

"Jesus, Piper! All we did was walk in!" Jasper attempted to shield himself by subtly trying to hide behind Henry.

"I told you dimwits I had the house today until four this afternoon! It's not even passed three o'clock! You traitors! Are you trying to ruin my life?" She hollered, running out of pillows.

When Piper went to grab a hold of the burning candle on the table, the boy on the couch easily grabbed onto her wrist before she could grab it. "Woah, there," He called. "There's no need to burn anything down." He chuckled, his dark eyes meeting hers.

Andreas Diaz flickered his brown eyes to the boys before him, a mischievous smirk turning on his lips. "Sorry," He said casually as he removed himself from Piper, straightening the leather of his jacket. "Piper and I were in the middle of a something before you two walked in. And I assure you, brother bear, we were not doing anything inappropriate."

Henry Hart's eyes squinted as he inched towards the couch, realization setting in as he recognized the boy in front of him. The boy had transferred to their high school in the middle of junior year, just being released from juvie for reasons no one but the principal knew about. Andreas Diaz was nothing but trouble. He graffitied private property, stole from convenient stores, affiliated with extremely dangerous people, and possibly even more stuff Henry wasn't aware of. Andreas held his bad boy title with pride even if it made people look at him warily.

But one thing Henry couldn't accept was Piper associating with someone like him—especially if he was the type of person who'd get her caught up with the type of crowd he hung around.

There shouldn't be a reason on why he'd come and visit her. Their age gap was a huge factor, but the other was they didn't even attend the same school. Piper was only in eighth grade, with a very limited list of seniors she knew who attended Swellview High. So what the hell was Andreas doing here chatting it up with Piper as if he had the right to?

"What the hell is he doing here?" Henry stared between the two of them appalled, brows conjoining into a firm line.

Andreas laughed coolly, stepping away from the younger girl with his hands held up in innocence. "Like I said, brother bear. We didn't do anything inappropriate. I came over here to discuss a couple things with you at first, but once I realized she also knew about some things I was curious of, I decided to talk to her instead since you weren't home and I don't have time to wait."

Henry could've punched him. And with the mood he was in, it definitely was something he was considering. "And what do you two have to talk about of all things?" Henry turned to his sister, deciding there was no reason on why he was questioning Andreas in the first place. He was talking to Piper and _only_ her. It seemed Andreas was trying to do nothing but cover up his tracks to make him appear innocent. "Piper, what is he doing here?"

Piper rolled her eyes as she cocked a hip out, arms crossed. "Andreas just moved in a couple blocks down from here. He came over asking for you and I told him you weren't home." Piper said assuredly, making sure Henry understood there was nothing else going on. "Do you really think I'd be here doing something horrific? Have a little faith in me."

The smirk on Andreas's face taunted Henry to nearly a point of no return. He was toying with him, as if he knew what kind of mood he was in and it bothered Henry to no end.

"C'mon, Hart," Andreas teased, stalking towards him and Jasper, his hands puffing up the stylish quiff on his head. "I'm not that much of a bad guy."

"Your record says otherwise."

Silence hung over the living room like dust, the expression on Andreas's face contorting into a scowl. His jaw clenched tightly as he walked up to the older Hart, just a tad bit taller, but much more bulkier. "There's no need to speak on something you aren't too informed on, don't you think?" He countered, voice stern.

If Henry felt anything towards Andreas, intimidation was not one of them. Ever since Andreas had forced himself into Henry's life, everything he's done has given Henry nothing but a result of trouble. Andreas was bad news, and him moving near him only seemed to daunt his vision on the rest of his senior year even more.

"No, I don't think." Henry walked closer to him too, glaring. "The fact that you felt it was okay for you to waltz in here and talk to my sister like you have a right to after your terrible records and the shit you've done to me? The shit you've ruined for me? You've got nerve, Andreas."

Jasper quickly pulled Henry back before anything escalated even more than it already was. Henry could tell that Jasper was aware of his thin patience, and if Andreas broke the thin ice he was balancing on, the results weren't going to turn out good for anyone.

Henry allowed his friend to push him behind himself, but with Jasper's short height, Henry easily continued the cold stare down him and Andreas were exchanging.

"Look," Jasper sighed out once he realized neither was backing down. "It's been a long day, Andreas. The last thing Henry needs is to see you right now. So just listen for once and leave." With the look Jasper had on his face, Henry could see he wasn't much of a fan of Andreas, either.

Piper furrowed her eyebrows as she stepped forward, sensing the obvious tension in the room that only seemed to continue brewing more and more. "What's going on here?"

Jasper looked at her, exhausted with the whole thing. After everything with Charlotte and his constant wonders on what was going on with her, he had no spare energy to give to another problem feuding. It was like their senior year was going to be filled with nothing but issues. He mouthed to her they could discuss everything after Andreas left, and with that Piper hurried to the door, holding it open as she stared at Andreas in anticipation to exit.

However, Andreas never faltered. He hadn't made any drastic changes in expression since Henry's retort about his records, and even with that he quickly fell back into his cool, calm, and collected persona.

Andreas smirked, nodding his head and stepping back. "Of course. I know when I'm not wanted," He turned to leave but stopped, his smirk widening. "Oh—by the way, Henry, say hi to Charlotte for me. Or did she leave your ass like I predicted she would?"

Henry's eyes practically shined with fury as he pushed Jasper out of his way, rushing towards Andreas and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, fuming at the self-satisfied boy. "You _really_ want to go there? Don't fucking speak about Charlotte like you know her," Henry growled. "You talk to my sister knowing how much I fucking despise you and then you want to make a joke about some shit you don't know about." Henry scoffed in his face, his fists shaking violently.

"Henry." Jasper called, pulling on his wrists in an attempt to get him away from the other boy with no avail. "Stop, Henry. This isn't going to look good, not to your parents, not to the school board, and not to Ray when he finds out, alright? Don't do anything you'll regret over assholes like him."

"No," Andreas encouraged, grinning. "Let the Hart boy try and hurt me, I'd love to see him try."

Jasper shook his head, Henry's superior reflexes coming to mind. "Even with a guy like you, Andreas, you wouldn't win." His face was serious as his eyes connected with Andreas's dark ones in a discreet effort to show how weighty he was, Henry's angry puffs of breath loud and clear.

If Andreas believed Jasper, he didn't make in known. Instead, his eyes leveled with Henry's angry ones, and this time he didn't poke the bear.

When Andreas opened his mouth, Henry beat him to it.

"If you even mutter Charlotte's name from your mouth, I'm killing you." His tone was clear and assured. Henry was making no empty threats.

Jasper finally removed Henry from Andreas and made sure Henry stayed away as Piper shouted at Andreas to leave. Even with her anger management classes, her temper was still as short as it was prior to them.

Andreas smoothed down his clothes with his signature smirk still evident. "My apologies on walking into your home and invading your.. _anguished_ thoughts," Andreas said. "But don't think your threats will be dismissed, brother bear. Let's not forget who you're dealing with."

Henry didn't even flinch. "I'd say the same."

Andreas chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't think you understand, Hart. I know people who can ruin your life and the people centered around it. The people I know are not very nice people, which I'm sure you know," Andreas replied causally. "Watch yourself next time."

Andreas thanked Piper for her time before leaving, his leftover scent of leather and spray paint irritating Henry even more.

If there was one person who could make him turn into a completely different person, it was Andreas Diaz. The boy knew too much of everything centered around him and seemed to find it okay to bring up the people he cared about as if Henry wouldn't act out.

He knew how to push Henry's buttons, that was for sure. But Henry knew how to push his, too.

Jasper shoved his friend out of his thoughts. "What the hell was that?" Jasper yelled, gesturing to the door. "You've never told me you and Andreas had any sort of tension. Let alone know each other."

Henry ran his hands through his hair and paced the floor, groaning. "He's just some asshole, Jasper. It's nothing—"

"Just like this whole thing with Charlotte is 'nothing?'" Jasper retorted, his voice raising. "I'm not about to sit here and play the clueless best friend. Not anymore, Henry. What the hell was that? He just threatened you!"

"I know!"

"Then tell me for fucks sake!"

"I fucked up, alright?" Henry could've punched a wall. "Andreas and I were friends for a while, but it wasn't worth telling you about. He hangs around bad people and—"

Jasper held up a finger. "You associated yourself with someone who you consider a 'bad person?' Even with the job you have?"

Henry was exhausted. "It's complicated, Jasper. It's not like I wanted to."

High school was not a playground. And Henry found that out the hard way. It was as if him entering his junior year and Andreas stepping into his life, everything had changed for the bad. He realized he couldn't defeat all the bad guys, and Ray couldn't take down everyone he encountered even with his invincibility. It was better to leave everything alone. Especially in a situation like this.

"His family is apart of the mafia." Henry murmured with cloudy eyes, the horrified facial expression on Jasper and Piper's face only fueling his precarious state.

Piper breathed through her mouth as her skin went pallid. "Henry, this guy.."

Henry couldn't get the memories out of his head. "He knows Charlotte. And he knows her well. I can't.. I can't just do something about this like I always could previously. This is the mafia we're talking about." He whispered, staring at them with empty eyes.

He could see the look on Jasper's face. The betrayal, the astonishment, everything. But it wasn't as if Henry was doing this because he wanted to hide everything from him. The less people who knew about his situation with Andreas and his impact on Henry, the better off everyone would be, and that included Ray.

Captain Man and Kid Danger just couldn't tackle the mafia, this was a whole different ballgame in a new, shiny, and extremely well-equipped court. Andreas Diaz was bad news, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The more people who knew, the better their chances were at getting hurt. It was just best for Jasper to stay in the dark for now. No matter how much Henry wanted to tell him.

* * *

 _Henry was used to sleeping alone at night. He was used to spreading his limbs in his small, twin bed and occupying himself with his phone when he had his sleepless nights._

 _But the first night he shared a bed with Charlotte, he began to realize how much he was missing out sleeping alongside someone in that,_ (romantically inclined) _way. Charlotte's tropical scented curls had been covering the majority of his face since she'd dozed off, no longer conscious of the lack of space on Henry's bed. His arms were wrapped around her waist, and her hands lazily slung on top of his, her legs shyly laying flush against his._

 _Charlotte was a cuddler, but she'd probably never admit that to his face._

 _They hadn't done anything—they were fully clothed and Charlotte had told Henry her mother left again, so he invited her to stay the night. There was no school tomorrow and, well, for his own selfish reasons, Henry wanted Charlotte to stay. He wanted to hold her._

 _So she borrowed a plaid shirt of his that fell to her mid-thighs and talked to Henry about pollution and math problems and how much she loved his scent until she fell asleep. Henry could listen to her ramble forever._

 _He hadn't been able to sleep. Not with Charlotte pressed against him like this and her tropical scent filling his nostrils. He wanted to remember this—all of it. The first night he'd slept in the same bed with Charlotte and her little snores._

 _Henry was content._

 _Being with her was different. She wasn't like Bianca or Chloe or any of the other girls he'd liked before. Charlotte was intoxicating. She accepted him for him and he did the same for her. They just clicked so fucking naturally and Henry never felt like he had to act different with her. If he could, he'd stay like this with her forever._

 _When 4AM rolled around and Henry's eyes began to droop, a loud knock on his window had prevented him from such._

 _"Hey Hart!" Andreas Diaz banged on his bedroom window, balancing easily on the tree branch in front of his room. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, fixing the quiff on his head before tapping on the window some more, growing impatient._

 _Henry sighed tiredly, knowing Andreas wasn't going to go anywhere. He untangled himself from Charlotte reluctantly, missing the warmth she gave him. She adjusted once he was fully out of bed, reaching for the body who wasn't there anymore._

 _Henry opened the window and his tired eyes met Andreas's whose smirk was still imprinted on his tanned skin at this time of night. "What do you want, Andreas?" Henry whispered, careful to not wake up the girl on his bed._

 _Andreas looked passed him, his eyes spotting the girl easily through the moons bright luminescence. "Hm," He hummed softly, almost taken aback. "Charlotte, right?" His eyes connected with Henry's. "Exceptional girl. Congrats. You definitely hit the jackpot with that one."_

 _Henry frowned with confusion. "You know Charlotte?"_

 _Andreas shrugged his shoulders. "Let's just say our fathers go way back. Her and I were pretty good friends when we were younger. We just.. grew apart, I guess." Andreas kept his tone light and comical, but the look on his face confirmed there was much more to the story than just that._

 _Henry had a rough description of Andreas's family and why they had to move to Swellview. Andreas has had a very tough life, especially with the family he has. Regardless, Andreas wasn't a good guy and probably never would be. That's why Henry kept him at a very far distance. Andreas Diaz was just too unpredictable._

 _Besides, Henry had never even told him where his room was, let alone his address. But he went against saying that._

 _"I need you to do something for me," Andreas whispered, forcing Henry out of his thoughts. Andreas reached near his hip, holding up silver metallic. The gun shined in the moon's light. Henry almost fell back. "Don't worry, Hart. It's not loaded. But I need you to keep this for a little while."_

 _Henry held his breath. "Put that thing away! What are you doing here waving your gun around at four in the morning?"_

 _Andreas stared at him pointedly, "I don't know if you know this, but, I'm kind of used to things like this. Sometimes I forget others aren't." He shrugged, smirking. "But I need you to hold this for me for the rest of the night. I've got somewhere to be and there's a 'no guns allowed' policy," He rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be back in an hour or so to pick it up-"_

 _Henry shook his head. "Andreas n-no, I'm sorry, but I can't. My parents are here and so is my sister just a few doors down_ — _Charlotte's here! I'm sorry, but no."_

 _Andreas's eyes darkened. "Henry. It's not that big of a deal-"_

 _"No, Andreas. I'm not doing it." Henry said dismissively, leaving no further room for argument._

 _How could Andreas even ask him to do something like this? He could be setting him up because some guys he picked with were looking for him and he decided Henry would be his scapegoat. They could be looking for that very gun, and he'd be keeping it if he said yes to him. If they find it over at his house then what? They kill Charlotte and his family? Including him? No way._

 _Andreas was silent for a long time, his dark eyes crossing between Henry and Charlotte's sleeping figure. His expression changed suddenly, his smirk enlarging and his face back to how it usually was_ — _obscure._

 _Then he smiled, tucking the gun back into his pants. "Okay." He said simply, light, jumping off the tree branch without a single flinch from the impact, making his way down the street without looking back._

 _Henry ran his hands through his hair, closing his eyes for a brief moment. Just when his life was beginning to look just a tad bit brighter, Andreas had to come and ruin it as if it was apart of his daily ritual._

 _Henry closed and locked his window, shielding himself and Charlotte away from the cold, harsh reality of the world. When he was back in his tiny bed, flushed against Charlotte and inhaling tropical scents and holding her waist tightly, he calmed, appreciating the way she welcomed him as if it were second nature._

 _For now, with Charlotte in his arms, he was okay. He was safe._


	6. Chapter Six

_While writing this chapter i realized Charlotte really needs female friends on henry danger lol._

 _Also, the next couple of chapters are going to be very Henry/Charlotte + Andreas heavy. There will also be Jasper, but they'll revolve more around those three than anyone for reasons you'll see later in this chapter. Also, I will get more into the Kid Danger/Captain Man plot further down the line for anyone who's wondering when and if it'll happen. It will, trust me. Everything will fall into place eventually. Just wanted to make that clear for you guys._

 _Plus:_ _Piper doesn't have a crush on her brother and Ray isn't into Henry and Piper's mom in this. For obvious reasons._

 _Hope you like. :-)_

* * *

Chapter six / No one

Charlotte couldn't focus.

She adjusted her canvas for the umpteenth time as she scooted her stool closer to the easel, attempting to get comfy. Her eyes stared blankly at the thick television screen near the front, one of Bob Ross's _"The Joy of Painting"_ episodes playing as he calmly demonstrated how to create some beautiful landscape Charlotte couldn't pinpoint. His calm voice, surprisingly, had not soothed her nerves as she had assumed. Everyone in the classroom seemed to be going along with him just fine, except for her.

Forty-five minutes have passed since Henry and Jasper left and Charlotte still couldn't seem to get the blond out of her head. As much as she hated to admit it, she'd missed the warmth he used to give her whenever he was near. Her accepting him into her proximity had proven that.

Charlotte picked up a dirty paintbrush, her eyes focusing on the smooth talking man on the television screen. She had no motivation to paint today. Not when she could still feel the tingles of Henry's lips on her neck and his hands on her waist.

She mixed some colors together that weren't supposed to be conjoined and painted a picture Bob Ross was not instructing. If she couldn't focus, she'd have to improvise—she couldn't let the people in here see her out of it like this.

"Charlotte," Sidney called just when a painting idea developed in her head, leaning over his stool and into hers, his wet paintbrush splattering droplets to the floor. "Hey, Charlotte!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes until she saw her brain. "Is there _anything_ I can do without you around?"

Sidney blinked obliviously with wiggling eyebrows and a suggestive smirk. "Oh, Charlotte.. clueless, naïve, Charlotte.." He sighed out, "I've always been around."

After a brief exchange in glances, Charlotte looked away from Sidney completely. Of course, over the years she'd grown used to his antics, along with Oliver's, but sometimes the things they'd say wouldn't sit well with her. These were one of those times.

"That sounds pretty cryptic," She said lamely, refocusing herself back to her painting. She dipped her brush into the amateur dark yellow mixture she created and stroked her brush gently across the canvas to avoid any excess paint going anywhere.

"It's not," Sidney insisted, no longer leaning into her space. "It's self-explanatory—It's always been self-explanatory."

His words caused Charlotte to halt, her eyebrows furrowed and her breath hitched. _What the hell did he mean by that?_

Charlotte coughed uncomfortably, dismissing herself from the conversation. _Where was Oliver when you needed him?_

The vibration in her pocket brought her back to reality, then another. She hastily put the brush down and dug into her jeans, grabbing a hold of her phone. It was Jasper.

 ** _-_ _You need to come over Henry's house_ _.-_**

 ** _-Now.-_**

Charlotte almost fell out of her stool.

 _-Why? I'm busy right now.-_

She received a reply before she could even process what he said.

 ** _-This is urgent. I can't calm Henry down. He keeps saying he needs you here. Please, Char, if only for a couple of minutes.-_**

Charlotte was the furthest thing from sympathetic when she read Jasper's message. Henry wasn't her priority—not anymore. She had an association to advise, a painting to paint that she had barely begun on and a goddamn Sidney with his stupid dictions she needed to figure out.

Her phone vibrated once more.

 ** _-He's saying he's going back up to the school to see you. I don't think me or Piper are strong enough to stop him.-_**

Charlotte rolled her eyes.

 _-_ _Then run him over with your car.-_

 ** _-I cnt type much anymore. trying to contain him. come pls-_**

Charlotte stuffed her phone back into her pocket, grumbling words underneath her breath as she plopped her dirty paintbrush into the murky water, stumbling to her feet.

She whispered in her aid's ear she had an emergency to take care of (which wasn't a _complete_ lie) and to take charge for the next half hour until the club let out, grabbing her things.

The girl nodded her head in mute compliance, moving her things to Charlotte's section to ensure her overall view of the classroom.

Sure, Charlotte wasn't too enthusiastic about the association meeting today, but anything would beat stepping foot into the Hart household. Briefly, as Charlotte made her way down the hall, she couldn't help the petty thoughts in her head. If she wanted, she could just go home and allow Jasper and Piper to take care of this supposedly enraged Henry. After all, he was not her business anymore.

But she didn't. And even if she wanted to, she probably couldn't.

Simply because, of course, this was her solid to Jasper. And he'll have to eventually return the favor.

* * *

Jasper was _not_ a fighter in any sense. Especially when his outraged sidekick of a best friend was trying to find a girl who, realistically, might not even show up.

Henry was shouting every curse word known to man, punching his bedroom wall in anger and staring down Jasper as if he'd killed his first born child. Henry's hair was feral from him pulling at it so frequently in frustration, possibly from both his predicament at the moment and the frustrations he was holding within.

Jasper had tried to calm him down, really, he did, but once Andreas had left and Henry had drowned himself in his thoughts, he switched. The anger in his eyes became irreplaceable and foreign to reason and logic, his brain only able to process _'kill Andreas.'_

And Henry could possibly do it, too, but after that then what? Andreas's family hunts him and everyone he knows down to murder them much more barbarically with just a plastic spoon as their weapon? Yeah, no thanks.

Henry Hart wasn't one to typically get hostile. Rather than giving into anger, Henry would succumb to his sadness and pessimistic thoughts.

But whenever he did get angry, which rarely happens, it took a lot to calm him down. He turned irrational and aggressive, and that's why Jasper preferred his friend to dwell in his sadness. There was no bright side in Henry getting angry, and Jasper wasn't sure how much longer he could leave him hostage here in his room.

And that was the reason why he called Ray right after he messaged Charlotte.

He'd just gotten off his flight this morning from his distant cousin's wedding, jetlagged and probably the furthest from interested in tending to teen drama. But he came nonetheless, and if it weren't for him Henry would've gotten free from his room by simply pushing Jasper aside without much force.

Ray stood in front of Henry's bedroom door, his glaring eyes never leaving Henry's pacing figure. To put it simply, Ray was the furthest from happy that Henry had kept a secret like Andreas and his family from him for as long as he did. Jasper doesn't think he's ever seen Ray this serious.

A loud _slam!_ was heard near Jasper's head as he guarded his best friend's window with Piper beside him, Henry's fist successfully placing a dent into his wall from anger, immune to any sort of pain it might've caused him.

Oh yeah, his parents were not going to be happy about this.

"It doesn't make sense," Henry said in a low voice, his fists opening and closing as he paced the floor. "You guys keep me here after everything that just happened— _me_ , while Andreas is out there doing god knows what!"

Jasper adjusted his position, "You need to calm down."

"What I need to do is find Andreas. Did you honestly think this was going to work? Calling up Ray and keeping me here until what? My parents come home to question us on what the fuck is going on? Like that's going to go well." Henry interjected, running his hands through his hair once again.

"Stop it," Ray commanded, his booming voice practically forcing Henry to turn to him. "You going anywhere in this state is going to lead us nowhere but trouble."

"I need to find Andreas!"

"And _then_ what?" Ray snapped, "You hurt him? _Kill_ him? Then his family comes after you and all the people you love? Including Jasper and this Charlotte girl? Then there will be no more Kid Danger to help me defend the city. You need to wise up, Henry. Because this anger of yours will set you up for nothing but trouble." Ray snarled, his words silencing Henry even after he finished.

Piper leaned into Jasper, tsking softly. "Who is this Ray guy? He looks so familiar, like I've seen him before. Don't you think?"

Jasper rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Uh, no?"

Piper tilted her head. "But he looks so familiar.."

Jasper panicked, "Déjà vu?"

The sound of the Hart's front door creaking open downstairs silenced their small exchange, and Jasper began to pray to a God he's never even acknowledged much that it wasn't who he hoped it wasn't. The last thing they needed was anymore conflict.

"Hello?" Charlotte said aloud, and Jasper calmed.

"Up here!" He called, watching Henry's eyes soften drastically as he turned towards the hallway.

Once a few curls peeked out of Ray's biceps from behind and then into the bedroom, Henry was on Charlotte in an instant, his open and inviting arms engulfing her in a tight hug, his arms secured tightly around her waist.

Henry lifted Charlotte up, her head peeking over his shoulder revealing her eyes fluttering shut and a small smile forming on her lips, her arms slowly creeping up to circle around his neck. The room grew still.

It took Charlotte Bolton just a couple of seconds to tame Henry Hart, and for once in his lifetime, Jasper hadn't questioned it.

Piper lolled her head to the side as she exhaled softly, "Never thought I'd see this again."

Jasper stared at her, perplexed. "Again?"

Piper nodded, "Whenever Charlotte came over to help Henry 'study,' they typically did anything but after a while of it. They were truly in love with one another and still are. It's just a shame they ended so tragically."

Jasper knew it wasn't his place to push the topic further, especially after he promised himself he'd respect their space for now, but Piper giving him this information gave him the assumption that they dated behind his back and that was that.

"They didn't just date," Piper continued, as if reading his mind. "They were something else to each other, I think. More than just a boyfriend and a girlfriend. I can't even explain the type of bond they have, you know? It was complex. Their whole relationship was complex. Probably still is."

Jasper couldn't help but mutter, "You're telling me.."

"Their fallout was detrimental," Piper stared at the pair with clouded eyes. "To both of them. That's obvious enough. After their split and Charlotte stopped coming over, Henry was.. _un_ -Henry like, and still is. He's so droopy now, and never bothers to react to my pranks. But I'm starting to think that maybe Andreas had something to do with their split," She turned to Jasper. "What do you think? Andreas's interference or merely mother nature's inevitable dose of imminent doom?"

Jasper gulped, "I think I should staple my mouth before I ask for further details,"

"I'm surprised you weren't there during the whole blow up," Piper admitted. "It was hard to watch for someone who's watched their relationship blossom to what it is. But seeing them now? Like this? They haven't lost feelings in the slightest." Piper scoffed. "Weaklings."

Jasper smiled weakly at her through clenched teeth, the temptation to know more beginning to outgrow his _'great and understandable best friend'_ award. He watched Piper turn her attention back to the pair, fighting the tempting urge to tell her to _Go on.._

Jasper grimaced, thinking about the well-deserved _'The most shit your best friends have put you through_ ' award he should be getting right about now.

* * *

Ray was never really a romance guy. It bored him, to be frank, especially when they revolved around typical clichés that he's seen in movies and books with every single plot he could predict.

Matter of fact, in his own love-life, it was known he'd rather skip most of the small talk and rear into the flirting phase, then the dating one, then the whatever happens next.

Because Ray preferred to just skip the games and start the whole thing before anything shimmered down between him and said lover. How else was he going to earn a heat-in-the-moment kiss at the end of a date?

But when he watched his sidekick, his friend, Henry Hart hold that girl in his arms with nothing but the most mesmerized smile he's never seen emit on the kid's face as if the girl compelled him, he knew Henry Hart was in far too deep for his own good. Hell, even just her walking in Henry stared at her as if she was the answer to all of the world's problems. And it was a beautiful sight—it truly was.

It was hard to keep his face stoic during their heartfelt interaction. Over the passed couple of weeks, his sidekick turned gloomy and unresponsive to his ( _very funny)_ jokes. But once he held Charlotte in his arms, Henry was back. And all it took was her.

Maybe he wouldn't mind reading on a romance like theirs. _Maybe._

Henry moved away from Charlotte slightly only to study her features briefly before smiling softly, the gleam in his eyes back. "Thank you," He said tenderly, stroking her waist with his fingers. "I needed this—I needed you. I needed to make sure you were okay."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Ray watched him hesitate. "Well, because of Andreas. He came over here earlier and I just wanted to make sure he didn't try to find you afterwards," Henry said, his cheeks heating once her eyes connected with his.

Charlotte shrugged out of his embrace, immediately missing the way he felt against her. "I can handle myself against him," She remarked simply, "I've always been able to. There's nothing scary about Andreas Diaz. He's all bark and no bite."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Sure, maybe there's nothing remarkably scary about him, but his family is another story."

Charlotte sighed. "His family are the people we need to be worried about. Not Andreas. As long as you stay clear of any cross fire with them, you'll be okay."

Ray frowned, "How do you know so much about this kid?"

"Andreas was a childhood friend of mine because our parents knew one another," She shrugged as if it didn't faze her anymore. "Then... well, there was this huge dispute and suddenly Andreas and I weren't friends anymore and that's that."

"Sounds like you're leaving out a few parts to that story, don't you think?" Ray asked innocently, Charlotte's expression never changing.

"I am, but there's no reason to say it here when it's more or less classified information." She watched him nod in understanding.

"What _I_ want to know," Piper called across the room. "Is why everyone is so cryptic! Not all of us appreciate reading between the lines," She complained.

"Eighth graders," Ray bristled with a shake his head. "What're you gonna do with 'em.."

"Hey!"

* * *

"We need to talk to you."

Jasper was surprised to see his best friends standing next to one another, shoulder to shoulder, with very serious expressions might he add. He wasn't expected them to approach him together like this.

Ray had eventually gone home, whispering in Henry's ear that he needed him to go to the mancave later on tonight, and Piper was in her room with a couple of her friends obsessing over the new hottest heartthrob in their pre-pubescent world.

So it was just him, Henry, and Charlotte in the living room awkwardly tip-toeing around the huge elephant in the room. Jasper couldn't help but revert back to the words Piper told him.

Charlotte self-consciously moved away from the dirty blond, and he naturally filled in the gap she created that she didn't bother moving away again to fill.

"What's up?" He asked causally, trying to seem entertained by the news on television and the bowl of popcorn on his lap.

He watched them exchange a couple glances from his peripheral view, Charlotte chewing on her fingernails nervously. "We need to talk to you about what happened. With us. Everything that happened with us."

Jasper choked on a popcorn seed, shoving the popcorn bowl onto the coffee table as his eyes widened. "What?" He choked out.

"No more secrets." Henry said firmly to him.

Jasper coughed some more, cursing mentally. The time he finally gets to hear it he chokes on a popcorn seed? Figures death would rather _kill_ him than to let him know the truth.

"Yes," Jasper spluttered after a while of facing death, hastily turning the television off and waiting impatiently for his friends to sit beside him. They didn't.

Jasper frowned, "Is everything okay?"

Charlotte fidgeted, nudging into Henry who seemed to not show any sort of emotion. This whole thing was weird, even for them.

"No matter what, promise us you'll still be our friend?"

"Of course," Jasper said impulsively. "You two should know you can tell me anything and I would never judge you for it."

He offered them both a small smile to indicate his sincerity and they returned it.

The last thing Jasper expected to happen after the whole Andreas thing, happened. He was relieved he'll finally know everything, yes, but he couldn't understand why they were so uneasy. All they were telling him was what happened between the two of them during their relationship, right? So what the hell was so nerve-wracking about it?

Maybe Piper was right. They were something else to one another. Something more than just a couple.

 _Maybe they can read each other's mind? That would explain the mind-talking they did earlier today.._

Jasper blinked. He didn't understand how that could even happen. If anything, he would've hoped he'd have a cool, special ability like that. After all, Henry's the cool, famous sidekick who fights crime and Charlotte is a literal genius in every sense of the word. He deserved some sort of specialty, too. Mind-reading his friends? Along with finally succeeding in knowing what that blonde demon Henry has a sister constantly ponders throughout the day? Oh yeah, that talent would be greatly appreciated and extremely convenient. Especially for situations like this.

Maybe he'll ask them about that later.

Finally they sat on either side of him, Charlotte's fingers intertwining into his own loosely. When he looked at her, she offered him a shy smile, a stray curl falling into her eyesight.

"We've been wanting to tell you for a long time, you know," Henry said finally, "And now that everything's out with Andreas and you know about him and his family, albeit by coincidence, it makes sense to tell you now. There's no longer a reason to keep you in the dark."

"Why couldn't you guys just tell me about him and his family's stupid lifestyle sooner?"

"Because we didn't want you to know about Andreas Diaz and his _connections_ ," Charlotte murmured. "The less people that know, the better off we'll all be. But everything is exposed now which isn't particularly a good thing, but the least we can do is tell you. You deserve that at the very least."

"What does Andreas even have to do with this?"

Henry chuckled humorlessly, his eyes darkening. "A lot." He said dryly. "You'd think a guy like him would spend his time doing something more worthwhile than involving himself into an extremely beatific relationship that never needed his company in the first place and never did."

Jasper nodded in accordance, "I understand."

"But we can't blame him completely," Charlotte continued logically, which Henry nodded in agreement with. "A lot of things were our fault too."

"You know," Jasper cracked a grin, "This is starting to sound like two parents telling their child why they're getting a divorce. Without, you know, much depth."

Henry pushed him lightly with his shoulder. "Except Charlotte and I would never get a divorce."

There was an awkward pause after Henry's words, and he quickly retracted. " _If_ we ever got married. Not saying we are or will. It's just, you know, theoretical." The dirty blond's cheeks heated as he avoided Charlotte's gaze.

"Anyway," Charlotte drawled, turning her attention back to Jasper. "Next time anything happens, I promise you'll be the first person I tell."

"Me too, Jas." Henry intervened.

Jasper could've bounced in his seat from anticipation. He wanted to just say enough with the small talk and to get _on_ with it. He's been waiting too long for this. Being told that your friends were keeping secrets behind your back wasn't a good feeling, but now that they were finally going to open up to him he couldn't be more relieved. Jasper was just grateful they trusted him enough to tell him, even if it was because of Andreas exposing himself to Jasper.

No more secrets, right?


	7. Chapter Seven: Part One

_**A/N:**_ _This chapter is very reminiscent-heavy than any of the other chapters I've written so far because after this one and the next one, the mood will be switched gradually because everything has been revealed for the most part and I wanted to make sure I'm delivering everything correctly, along with filling you guys in with everything that's happened. It's also much more longer as you can tell lol, mostly because there are a few (_ _ **many**_ _) flashbacks in this and I tried to be as descriptive as possible. Tbh, I just needed to make sure everything was progressing nicely so when I go into chapter eight and so on, nothing will be left behind and I won't have to back peddle._

 _This chapter is also very Henry-centric in regards to his feelings for Charlotte along with their current situation. Honestly, it took me a while to figure out how to make the right approach with this chapter because I had soooo many ideas but none of them suited what I wanted until I finally had a brain blast a few days ago lol. I was going to start off with the stuff that happened between them, but I decided against it because I wanted to show everything Henry was going through internally as he and Charlotte explain it—hence the (second) flashback in this which happens before they tell Jasper they need to talk to him. I felt like that would be more organic and it would help you guys see more into how he feels about her. Not just starting everything straight out with what happened lol._

 _A lot of things will be exposed in this chapter too! Fun!_

 _And thank you guys for the love! I appreciate it so much!_

 _Hope you guys enjoy. :-)_

 _ **P.S.** \- This has not been edited much. It's almost 4AM where I am but I stayed up because I wanted to get this chapter out for you guys because I wasn't going to be able to post it if I didn't for the next few days. I'm exhausted lol, I apologize for any errors or if something doesn't make sense. I'll be going over things soon._

* * *

Chapter Seven Part One / No one (Henry-heavy though)

 **FIVE DAYS INTO TUTORING / CHARLOTTE'S ROOM**

 _So far into their tutoring sessions, Henry knew he was doing a pretty good job at keeping his feelings for the curly headed girl at bay, tucking them far deep into his brain to the point where during their one-on-one interactions, he could strategically calculate how long he should stare at her whenever she'd carelessly ramble, or threw her head back in frustration whenever he'd push away the textbooks from boredom, or, when the harsh sunlight hit her just right through the window's glare, casting a natural highlight across her velvet skin._

 _Sometimes he'd have to physically adjust his position to stop himself from staring, because he knew that this was_ Charlotte _he was talking about, and he'd be in deep shit if she ever caught him ogling her in any way shape or form._

 _But during times like this, he couldn't help but gape at the girl laying next to him._

 _The curls he's always seen since he's known her were now straightened, her dark tresses falling graciously down her back, loose strays falling into her eyes whenever she'd dip her head far too low or shake her head too aggressively. With even the slightest movement she made, her hair would move along with her as if it couldn't get enough of her._

 _Henry knew today was the day he couldn't help how often he stared at her, because she looked so proud of herself for straightening her hair all by herself and the smile she was wearing was just so damn beautiful._

 _It was halfway into their studying when Henry had looked away from the book and at her, sighing softly when she scooted closer to give him better access to see the pictures. She was discussing the difference between red and blue stars, her fingers slowly caressing her hair before tucking a few strands behind her ear._

 _"It's pretty simple, even for you to understand," She remarked playfully, tilting the textbook slightly more towards Henry. "The blue stars are the youngest type, see?" She pointed to a random one (which he recalled to be Rigel—yes, he does actually learn from her). "And the deep, deep reddish ones like UY Scuti, Betelgeuse or VY Canis Majoris for example, are the oldest types. Stars are defined by their temperatures. The hottest ones are always the bright blues ones and can have a surface temperature of about 20,000 to 40,000 kelvin, but that's for the brightest ones. On average, the ones not as bright typically have a surface temperature of approximately 7,500 to 11,000 kelvin. They always vary. And the deep red ones you see here—"_

 _"Charlotte—" Henry called softly before he even realized what the fuck he was doing, watching her eyes meet his once she finally looked away from that textbook._

 _Henry hadn't listened to a word she said to him—not when he was so easily distracted from the way her hair fell across her like a gleaming curtain and she was quick to ease a bunch behind her ear, displaying her side profile, her eyelashes kissing the top of her cheekbones whenever she'd blink, the pout of her lips tempting him and the smolder of her vibrant skin doing things to his leaping chest._

 _She stared up at him. "Henry," She mocked playfully, the small grin she had on her lips slowly diminishing after he didn't return it. "What is it?"_

 _It must've been him staring into those warm dark eyes of hers, or maybe the way the sun hit her like it was made to do just that, that made him want to forget about everything but her. "You're a thinker." He said finally, and he feared that she wouldn't understand what he meant._

 _But then she nodded, her hair swishing and her eyes on him. "I am. That's why I am how I am. I think that's my problem—I think too much."_

 _Henry didn't want to discuss astronomy anymore. "I think it's nice. The way you think influences the way you view everything—including," Henry shrugged shyly. "Including when it comes to things like love. Romantic.. um, love."_

 _Charlotte adjusted her position so she could lay closer to him. "Without thoughts, there is no love."_

 _"Oh, really?"_

 _"Yes," Charlotte said softly, staring passed him suddenly. "In order to fall in love, you have to think—and to think deeply. The person's flaws, their strengths, their passions, their dislikes, everything that they could possibly encompass. And if your mind doesn't fall in love with all of that along with your heart, it'll never last."_

 _"Blind love," Henry murmured. "The heart resembles blind love."_

 _"And your thoughts are what keeps you from going blind. If you truly, truly, care for someone romantically, you ponder on the traits of that person to make sure infatuation and true, undeniable love doesn't have the line blurred. The ones who know in their minds that this is it, this is their person and not just their heart telling them it is, those are the ones that last."_

 _"The classic passion versus reason debate," Henry said. "It all makes sense now."_

 _Henry wanted to tell her that every part of his body, including his mind was telling him she was his person, that he felt more than just a leap in his chest or heat in his cheeks. Over the years, he's grown to know Charlotte more than he'd ever admit to either her or Jasper. He knew her flaws, her dislikes, her passions. And he knew that after today, there was no more suppressing his feelings about her. Not when his thoughts aligned completely with his heart._

 _"What makes sense?" She asked, nudging him._

 _Henry waved dismissively, "Why my parents are so ooey gooey," He pretended to shudder. "Remember that time we caught them making out in the kitchen after school a couple days ago? It was scarring."_

 _Charlotte blinked at him, unimpressed with his answer, but didn't push it. She waited a couple seconds before replying. "I think it's cute. Not everyone can truthfully say they're still attracted to their partner once they've reached a certain age."_

 _Henry scoffed playfully. "You hopeless romantic."_

 _"Guilty as charged."_

 _Charlotte never really expressed her opinions and beliefs to him, not even when he told her his. She never spoke about herself unless he asked, an open book once truly allowed to be. She spoke with such solidarity, such assurance about everything she said, that Henry couldn't help but wonder just how much she's experienced in her lifetime._

 _She watched him stare at her for a long, long time and said nothing._

 _Their dynamic had shifted after that brief conversation, Henry inching himself closer to her until their arms brushed softly, and she never pulled away._

* * *

Henry knew that there were a million more worse situations than the one he was in, which, in all honestly, has helped him cope with all the things he had weighing him down constantly. He would consider himself a pretty decent and insightful human being with an open-mind, which weren't bad characteristics whatsoever. However, over the years of the constant pressure to constantly do good and make righteous decisions, the stress, insecurities, and exhaustion he dealt with from school and his job, he'd lost himself in the mix, and he wasn't sure how to piece himself back together.

He was good at masking his troubles. Cracking a joke or two periodically to avoid any interrogations from either Jasper or his family or even Ray, commenting on things in the most upbeat, believable tone he could muster, and smiling as much as he usually would, it was easy to mask everything from them.

He allowed Jasper to continue to think he knew him through and through. Jasper did for the most part, he's his best friend, but some things Henry dealt with he wanted to keep to himself and figure it out on his own.

Charlotte tore down his wall before he could even attempt to seem content with everything going on in his life whenever he was with her.

And she had done it in the most respectable, subtle way. She never tried to pester his troubles out and make him spill his guts out to her, no, all she'd do is wait a second or two before laughing at his jokes or comments, her eyes shining knowingly as her lips curved into an unimpressed smile.

She _knew_ him. And he wasn't sure how she ever discovered his mask when, at that time, they were simply friends who'd strictly talk about astronomy and astronomy only.

Charlotte had her moments where she'd interrogate him whenever he had to leave abruptly because of his superhero sidekick occupation but he couldn't tell her _that_. So during those times he'd let her bicker one-sidedly at him as she packed her things to leave earlier than arranged. If it were one thing Charlotte deserved, it was his time, and that was something he couldn't always guarantee.

But he couldn't tell her that either. He couldn't tell her anything about his job—she was a genius, a walking _masterpiece—_ he'd be giving himself up with just simply informing her of the location.

But overall, Charlotte had never judged him, not even once. And he appreciated that wholeheartedly.

Henry interlocked his fingers loosely as his vision lowered to the floor, taking interest in his shoes. The silence hovering across the room had been ongoing for a good while now, he nor Charlotte instigating the topic. He knew Jasper was growing impatient, hell, he would be too if he were in his position, but Henry was feeling dubious, his brain buzzing with self-consciousness and partial reluctance. If just a single word came out wrong, it could ruin everything, including all the work he's been doing this passed to week to get Charlotte to talk to him again.

He wasn't going to allow him and Charlotte to revert back to how they used to be. Not after the way she's always made him feel and what he'd told her earlier, which he'd say again and again and again if he had to.

He knew she needed time—she needed to _heal_ , rightfully so, so he was going to give her all of the time she needed.

Healing was time; it was patient and sometimes agonizing. Once you think it's over and telling you to move on, it's not and suddenly you're back where you started. Henry knew that well enough to realize it'd be a while before Charlotte truly came back around to him.

* * *

 _"I want to tell Jasper everything," Charlotte said from behind him, her brown eyes staring back at his. She had made sure to pull him aside once Ray left after telling him to stop by later and Piper went to her room once her friends came over uninvited and Jasper went downstairs to make some popcorn. He wasn't expecting her to say anything to him after his meltdown—_ especially _after his meltdown, but here she was, a couple feet away with persistence written all across her face._

 _Then she looked away from his eyes to stare at his lips, his forehead, his nose, everywhere but his eyes to avoid his scrutinizing gaze. "I want to get over everything that happened between us and I'm sure you do too. After we tell him, he'll quit asking about it and eventually we can go back to how things used to be."_

 _"Charlotte," Henry replied, licking his lips (which she had caught). "I don't want to get over anything. In fact, I've been wanting to talk to you about it, to explain why—"_

 _Charlotte huffed in a sharp breath, her gaze piercing. "Henry. It's done._ We're _done. Let's just tell Jasper and get over it over with, alright? We can finally put it all behind us after this."_

 _Her words stung. "No, Charlotte, I don't want to put this—" He gestured between them, "behind us. I've been trying to talk to you about us—about how I feel for you since we've split, and you just keep blowing me off as if we were just some fling—"_

 _"Henry—"_

 _"Let me talk about this, please. I'm tired of being disrupted. I want to talk about us to you before I do with anyone else," Henry said softly, tentatively. He wanted to inch closer to her, to grab a hold of her twitching hands and to kiss her pouting lips as she waited impatiently for him to continue, but he couldn't._

 _(So instead he thought back to their embrace and how he couldn't help how his fingers caressed the skin of her waist and how his nose buried deep in the crook of her neck to recall her signature scent. She didn't reject him, only pulled him closer to her, and that was all he needed for his anger to dissolve into relief and gratitude)._

 _Finally. He could finally tell her what he'd been afraid to tell her during their relationship. What he should've told her during their relationship. Maybe then, they wouldn't be in the position they were in now. Maybe instead they'd be telling Jasper about their relationship and he'd be holding her hand and kissing her until she made him dizzy._

 _"During the time we spent together, you have never tried to fix me. You never viewed me as some broken, pitiful puzzle piece that you needed to mend back together. When I showed you the most jagged, eerie parts of my mind, you never tried to avert my dark thoughts into any sort of positive energy. Not even once. All you did was accept me. You accepted my dark thoughts and you made sure that I knew I was not crazy for thinking any of them. You touched parts of my mind that no one has ever been brave enough to even peek at—not even myself. I just—I want to thank you for all of the moments you've given me, Char. There is nothing in this universe that has ever made me feel this way," His eyes fluttered shut._

 _"You've encouraged me to fix myself. And us being together, all of the time we've spent together, you've helped me do just that. You've been patient with my mood swings and me in general. And I—I can't just pretend none of this ever happened, I can't pretend that I can just get over you," Henry grew shy. "I'm in love with you, Charlotte. I've always been in love with you. I've been trying to push it away for years. During our first couple of tutoring sessions, I tried to convince myself that what we were doing was appropriate and that I'd get over you, that you weren't so special after all," He shook his head. "But once you spoke to me, actually spoke to me about love and the beauty and the curse of thinkers, I realized there is no way I could ever get over someone as lovely as you are. I don't—I can't have us end like this. I'm not good at voicing how I feel but I just needed to tell you this before you decide to walk away from me permanently. And.."_

 _When he reopened his eyes, nervous yet relieved, he stared into her own. This time, though, he was fearless. He's finally told her what he's been holding in._

 _Being in love with a girl he's always had to be around because of the curly haired boy was the most difficult task he'd ever come to encounter. He'd have to see her glowing in the sunlight during the day, rambling about her art association and upcoming events or tests she needed to study for to them, her essence glowing effortlessly and exposing itself to him in ways not even he fully understood. All he knew was that Charlotte was beautiful—she always has been, and because of that, there was no way he could allow himself to get closer to her._

 _She'd break him without even trying—god, she'd break him. He was fully aware of that._

 _But that never stopped him from falling in love. He spent entirely too much time with her because of Jasper—_ too _much, and after their many study sessions, he realized there was no going back to completed canvases after he's become enchanted with a breathtaking yet incomplete masterpiece._

 _Henry Hart could hold galaxies upon galaxies and fucking brown dwarfs in his possession, and he'd still want her heart._

 _Henry moved towards her. "And I know you believe it, too."_

 _He watched Charlotte's expression transform into disbelief, the tremor in her voice undeniable._

 _"Henry, stop."_

 _"I'm not saying any of this because I want us back together. I'm saying it because I should've said it when I had the opportunity to. When there was an us, when Andreas had came into the picture and instigated our issues."_

 _Henry knew how to push his emotions deep down to the point where he could pretend he felt nothing at all for no one if he wanted—but once he truly realized his feelings for Charlotte, there was no shoveling that._

 _"Henry.." She said after a hesitant pause, her glassy eyes circling through his. "I cannot do this with you right now. I've been looped into this tangle with you and Jasper for the passed week because we've been keeping this from him, but once he knows everything, I can't and I'm not going to fall back into your arms just because you realized you made a mistake. All I'm believing from you right now is that everything we did meant nothing to you. The words you just said were beautiful, but you'd be a fool if you assumed I'd believe any of it for even a second."_

 _The sincerity in Henry's voice was undeniable, along with the way he looked at her when he spoke, but all Charlotte could see was when he debunked everything they'd ever done or said to one another the night they split. She could still hear the frustration in his voice and feel the break of her heart, and it was enough for Charlotte to build her wall back up and force herself to believe that Henry Hart couldn't love her—that he_ didn't _love her._

 _Henry nodded stiffly, "I understand," And he did. "I did this. I just wanted you to know it was never a game to me, and I truly realize that I made a mistake. I'm sorry, Charlotte." The crack in his voice made him to cringe. He'd done this to himself. He could never forget that._

 _Regardless, Henry felt his heart swell with discomfort, the tears in his eyes stinging as he blinked them back continuously. Henry was so focused on Charlotte breaking his heart—so focused on her sharp tongue and her power to destroy him with a single utter of rejection—that he never realized until it was too late that he was one of the reasons hers was broken in the first place._

 _The burning swell of his heart had never felt so good. Not when her name would longingly murmur repeatedly from its compacted frame and his distressed thoughts._

* * *

Charlotte's scent was different today.

Instead of that typical moisturizer she always had that smelled of tropics and _Charlotte,_ her hair smelled of jasmine and rose absolute. The heavenly elixir was a distinct scent and he hadn't even recognized it until she was secured in his arms ( _twice_ today) with his head buried deep into the skin of her neck that he's claimed so many times before. Henry swore he's never inhaled a sweeter combination.

She was like the first intake of fresh autumn air, colorful leaves flowing constantly in rotation of the direction of the wind. She was winter; summer, spring, she was rain—calm, relaxing and so _so_ exhilarating. She was all the seasons in one. She was everything. The good, the bad, the flawed, the beautiful.

"First off, I can assure you that Charlotte and I were never involved with each other prior to the tutoring," Henry's voice cut through the thick tension like a knife. "We never dated, never kissed, never anything."

"Well, I _did_ see you two hug once on my birthday last year.." Jasper evoked, clicking his tongue.

"Well," Henry imitated. "You _did_ want us to interact on your' _special_ day.'"

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Don't act like you didn't enjoy it!"

Charlotte loosened her hold on Jasper's hand so she could clasp her hands together. "As we were saying," She reminded, "Henry and I's dynamic was a struggling two out of ten on a _good_ day before our tutoring—"

"That rating seems a bit generous, don't you think? I'd say a good negative two. On a good day, of course."

"Oh my god," Charlotte groaned, hiding her face with her hands. "This is getting completely off topic. I have dance practice in a bit so can I continue please?"

Jasper bristled sarcastically, "Is Charlotte actually _begging_?" He placed his hand over his heart, feigning shock.

"Okay, I'm definitely not begging you-"

"You definitely are."

"I'm definitely not."

"You definitely are,"

"Am not!"

"Am yes!"

"That made absolutely _no_ sense—"

Henry pulled at his hair in frustration. He couldn't take this anymore. It was like he was the only one who was caught up in the whole situation, despite Jasper practically begging them to spill the beans this whole entire week. "Charlotte and I dated."

* * *

 _(Charlotte was feeling good today_ — _her mother had called her for the first time in five months, Henry was finally improving on astronomy, and she had treated Jasper to ice-cream earlier today. But the icing on top, however, was climbing into Henry's window after a bit of studying for her AP Statistics final and waiting for him to come home from work._

 _She was feeling squeamish, her stomach churning constantly as she attempted to calm her nerves. She had Henry's favorite flowers_ — _sunflowers, along with a bag of candy she knows to be his favorite in her hands. To be frank, she wasn't sure how he was going to react to her being in his room at 12AM with flowers and candy, 'Can't Help Falling in Love' by Elvis Presley playing softly on repeat on the Pear-speaker that sat on his dresser. She just hoped he'd like her semi-impromptu setup. But more than that, she hoped he wouldn't reject her._

 _She waited there for an hour, and halfway into it, she collapsed on his bed, the flowers and candy lay across her as her eyes shut._

 _It wasn't until Henry shook her awake around 1AM, his blond hair messy and a tiny smudge of dirt stained on his left cheek. "Charlotte?" He called. "What's going on?" He asked worriedly, eyes flickering across her body, spotting the things she had for him, and a smile curved on his lips._

 _She stood to her feet quickly, hastily grabbing the sunflowers and pushing them against her hammering heart. "Sorry, Hen, I was waiting for you and, fuck, I accidentally fell asleep_ — _"_

 _Henry placed his hands onto her waist and kissed her forehead lovingly. "Don't ever apologize. You know I don't mind."_

 _"I..." Charlotte swallowed. "Will you be my girlfriend? I mean boyfriend? Will you be with me? Like romantically? I brought these things for you regardless if you say yes or no, it doesn't matter to me, but I just.. I really like you and_ — _"_

 _His lips smashed against hers as he removed the flowers from her hands and threw them on his bed carelessly. "You beat me to asking you," He murmured against her mouth. "But yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. God, yes.")_

* * *

Their feud halted, Jasper's curls nearly slapping him in the face with how fast he turned around. "So," He mused. "My prediction was right."

Henry swallowed, "It wasn't supposed to happen, you know that right?" His eyes bore into Jasper's, trying to get him to understand. "The last thing I'd ever do is go behind your back about something like this without a logical reason."

Jasper nodded, "I know, man." He said softly, almost taken aback by how serious Henry looked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Henry's eyes flashed to Charlotte's figure for only a second. _Time._ "I just want to get this conversation over with. I need—I need to be alone for a little while."

Jasper nodded understandingly and adjusted himself, staring at Henry expectantly. Jasper wasn't stupid; Henry had lied to him. It was obvious his mood from earlier, when Charlotte had shown up, had diminished completely. Henry seemed stiff and emotional right now—uncertain, perhaps. "No worries." He said sincerely.

"We didn't date for long, but that's something we'll get into later." He proceeded, resting his elbows on his knees. "We were happy. _I_ was happy. I felt like nothing could never take me down from this high I was constantly on whenever I was with Charlotte."

* * *

 _("Instead of tutoring this Saturday, I want to take you out to dinner. With my parents."_

 _Charlotte choked. "No_ — _" She spluttered out. "You are trying to get rid of me, aren't you? I will embarrass myself_ — _I will_ — _oh my god, no. We just told them we're together two weeks ago! Are you crazy? They'll think we're rushing into this too much!"_

 _"I think_ , _" Henry grabbed her hand. "That you make me happy, and they see that radiating through me, and we all decided to take you out to dinner tomorrow night as a lame gesture to thank you. You don't have to dress fancy if you don't want to. We want you to just be Charlotte_ —  
 _the Charlotte you've always been."_

 _"So your parents came up with this idea?"_

 _"Mostly, yep," He popped the 'P.' "I guess talking about you so much made them see just how happy I am with you. They adore how you're influencing me. They think your intellect will somehow wear off on me too probably." Henry chuckled._

 _Charlotte could feel the heat radiating through her body. She had gotten so fucking lucky and she wasn't sure why she hadn't pursued Henry Hart before. But he was hers now, and that's all that mattered. She inhaled contently, pushing her body against his. "Okay." She said softly, her finger caressing his pink lips._

 _"Okay," He repeated through her finger, his hands lingering down to her butt as he leaned up to grasp her finger in between his teeth playfully. "Okay.")_

* * *

"And I was too," Charlotte added, her eyes never daring to even glance in Henry's direction. "He was one of the reasons I was beginning to appreciate the little things in life. But we've all seen Kill Your Darlings. Not all good things last."

Jasper brought his hand to his heart fondly for the second time, "I gotta say, that movie is iconic."

Charlotte smiled sadly. "The next day, my mom expectantly came home sober, talkative, _and_ happy. She asked me how school has been, about you, and she even ate breakfast with me. So, in the spur me being relieved my mom was finally talking to me again I told her I found a boyfriend. That I found someone who finally accepted me for me. That.. I was with Henry," Her head tilted slightly. "And she said she wanted to invite him to dinner before she left later on that night. So, I went the Hart's house for our tutoring session and when we were finished, I told Henry what my mom said. He accepted, obviously, and I swear I was over the moon that whole entire day."

She bit her lip, "When we got to my home, there were several cars parked outside of our house. All blacked out and foreign, not even I knew who owned such luxurious vehicles. Most certainly not anyone on my block. Those cars could all probably blend well into a night sky."

Jasper's eyebrows furrowed. "Did something happen?"

Charlotte's face scrunched. "When we walked in, our living room was surrounded by men with suits on and cigars, my mom sitting on the couch across from a man. It was Andreas's father."

* * *

 _("Charlotte Bolton. Henry Hart." Gevolli Diaz's thin lips curved into a crooked smile, gesturing the two next to Charlotte's mother as they walked in. "Please, sit. Help yourselves to some red wine. We've got plenty." His thick Italian accent echoed easily through the compacted home, his tan skin blending in well with the chair he was seated in. The man looked tough, that was for certain. Even while pushing sixty, his muscles easily strained his suit, the fabric squeaking with even the slightest movement he made. However, his hair wasn't as kind to him. The hairline he once had was long gone, replaced with a shiny, hairless head with a black fedora keeping it warm._

 _"Godfather, what are you doing here?" Charlotte stared around the room, her gaze connecting with all of his men probably loaded with weapons. "We have ten days left to pay off this months debt."_

 _Gevolli Diaz's dominance was apparent the second his presence was detected in the room. "Hush, Charlotte. Don't disrespect me with your worthless retorts. I'm not here for your money yet. I'm here for a different reason." Gevolli Diaz stood from his seat, the cigar in his hands rising to his lips. "Henry Hart." He said through his cigar, turning his back to him. "I heard you scorned my son with your self-entitlement last weekend." It wasn't a question._

 _Henry Hart frowned. "He asked me to hold a gun for him, sir."_

 _"And you didn't do it?"_

 _"Well, no_ — _"_

 _"You fool." Gevolli Diaz turned towards the boy sharply, his expression careless. "You disrespect my blood, my son, with your foolish fears. Then you have the guts to turn around and date the girl he's been in love with for years."_

 _"What?" Henry breathed, his eyebrows knitted._

 _Gevolli Diaz waved him off. "I have no time to explain anything to scum like you. Now, I don't typically do business outside of my home. Usually when my boy tells me something has gone wrong, I take care of it with a gun, a bullet, and a body bag. Nothing more, nothing less," Gevolli Diaz stalked around the couch, his meaty fingers tucked securely into his briefs. "However, my boy is quite fond of you, Henry Hart. And so are my ladies here." He gestured towards Charlotte and her mother. "I'll never know why. I don't see the charisma you supposedly display."_

 _"Godfather," Charlotte inhaled. "This has to be some sort of misunderstanding_ — _"_

 _"Quiet!" Gevolli Diaz's voice shook through the thin walls, his cigar nearly falling from his lips as he stared her down. "If you cut me off again, I will not hesitate to shoot this boy in his kneecaps and let him sit there in excruciating pain for several hours until I finally decide to amputate his legs slowly. Hell, I should be killing him now after the audacity he has to reject my son! My flesh and blood! He has brought shame to his kin!"_

 _"You know better than to speak when he's talking." Her mother whispered harshly into her ear, her stance disciplined._

 _Charlotte inhaled again, her eyes flickering to the floor. She knew how to calm the alpha male down, she's done it years before the fallout she had with Andreas. Despite her and Andreas not talking for several years, she had kept into constant contact with Gevolli Diaz. She's known him all her life, and before she even knew how to walk, she was taught to view him as her lifelong Godfather, no matter what. However, Gevolli Diaz was a man of pride, kin, order, and money, and Henry Hart was neither of those to him. She knew when she needed to shut up._

 _Gevolli Diaz's hard eyes stayed fixed on the blond unblinkingly. "You're a good kid, I can see it. A strong one, stronger than my boy, and probably faster, too. But you aren't faster than a bullet. You aren't stronger than me, and I'm your worse nightmare." He knelt down to his level. "My friends are politicians, lawyers, judges, policemen, thieves, murderers, millionaires. I only associate with the highest of authority, how else will I keep my boy and I out of those bars? Lord knows we deserve it," His laugh was an low-pitched cackle. "My boy may have been behind bars once, but I assure you it was only to avoid the accusations of favoritism from pathetic locals. He was out the very next day. But, I'm telling you this because it's pointless to try and turn us in. You turn us in, you write your grave. That's a promise."_

 _Gevolli's tiny eyes squinted, his big hand expertly moving to Henry's knee and pinched a nerve uncomfortably, rejoicing at the soft cry coming from from the blond's lips. "I've never liked you, Henry Hart.")_

* * *

"His father did all of that? What the hell were they doing holding a family reunion in your house? What the hell was he doing threatening a seventeen year old?"

Charlotte shut her eyes. "Andreas is his father's weakness. Everyone knows this. Gevolli Diaz will kill a newborn with absolutely no remorse if it means his son will have guaranteed protection from the law. Everyone who's close to him knows this. Family and connections are crucial when it comes to the mafia."

"What is their mafia even called?"

Charlotte shrugged, "My mom knows all the ins and outs but she refuses to tell me in the fear I'll rebel against the oath she promised Gevolli Diaz's father when she was younger. Godfather especially won't tell me _—_ they know I won't keep their secrets. All I know is a lot of their family members still live somewhere in the northern part of Italy and because of that, they still have powerful connections circling through both Italy and North America. To put it shortly, they're very wealthy, self-established people who's family tree has held their superior title for decades _—_ illegally."

Jasper shook his head in disbelief as he turned to Henry, "And you didn't do anything? Nor Ray? I understand he has lookouts in the state executive system but there has to be something you can do, right?" He ignored the confusion contorting on Charlotte's face. This question was much bigger than his secret.

"We would've died." Henry stated knowingly. "We would've been shot before we knew it. I knew this as soon as I walked in. Bullets are faster than both of us combined. I couldn't be the reason for Ray's downfall. Gevolli Diaz is an intelligent man. He'd know something was up before I could even try and contact Ray after he finished threatening me."

"All over you not wanting to hold a gun for his son? That's pathetic. Andreas Diaz's is truly a man of pride, I see. But where does he still come into all of this?"

"Well," Henry heaved out, "After the whole thing with Gevolli Diaz, it was difficult for Charlotte and I to go back into our same routine as if nothing ever happened. They came to her house because they knew I'd be there and they knew Charlotte nor her mother would do anything about it because of the debt they owe and the oath Ms. Bolton took."

Jasper felt the air get sucked out of his lungs as he turned to Charlotte. "What?" He breathed, "You never told me about any of this but you told Henry?"

Charlotte shook her head. "No, I swear I didn't. Godfather exposed everything to him. Willingly."

"What the fuck is this 'debt' you supposedly owe, anyway? I didn't think _this_ much happened in the spam of three weeks."

Charlotte shifted uncomfortably. "That's something completely unrelated to what we're telling you right now."

"A couple days after that, Andreas came over my house again, but it was different this time. He wanted to talk, and I don't mean about what happened with his father. I mean talk about things he predicted to happen." Henry explained.

* * *

 _(Andreas looked around Henry's room unimpressed, his dark eyes scanning the red and blue theme with disdain. "So... this is your room, huh?"_

 _Henry wanted to do nothing more than kick him out. "What are you doing here, Andreas?"_

 _Andreas looked at him and_ _smirked. "What am I doing here?" He laughed. "I came here to talk to an old friend, is all. Is that suddenly a crime?"_

 _Henry glared, "I don't know, aren't crimes your forte?"_

 _Andreas Diaz gave him the same look the night he came over last, after Henry turned his gun-sitting offer down. "Maybe," He said monotonously, "But I'm not here to talk about what happened between you and my father. I want to talk about_ you. _"_

 _Henry scoffed. "Me?"_

 _Andreas nodded, flashing him a sickly sweet smile. "Let's talk about Henry Hart." He stalked towards him, his dark, leathery attire sticking out in his room like a sore thumb. The damp mud at the bottom of his combats left light trails of dirt across the hardwood floor wherever he walked. "Let's talk about the sensational story of Henry Hart and Charlotte Bolton."_

 _Henry shook his head. "I'm not doing this with you." Andreas was the biggest headache Henry has ever met. Just when he and Charlotte began to grow closer, Andreas had somehow circled his way back into both of their lives, attempting to taint them for the worse, and so far, he seemed to be succeeding._

 _"Remember last year when we were friends, Henry?" Andreas wondered aloud, pacing slowly. "Remember when Charlotte was_ my _best friend, Henry?_

 _"She used to be my best friend. Before Jasper, before knowing you, before your infatuation for her grew into love that you kept in for years." Andreas clicked his tongue knowingly, shielding the emotion on his face behind a smirk. "I know her. I knew the Charlotte before she grew into her signature personality. And let me tell you, Hart, she'll leave your ass the minute she realizes you're nothing but a man who'll hold her back."_

 _Henry balled his fists. He knew what Andreas was doing._

 _Andreas wanted Henry to hit him, to knock him out, whatever the case may be, so he report back to that musclehead father of his._

 _But he wasn't going to feed into it. Not tonight._

 _"Your taunts don't faze me." The snarl in his tone proved his comment wrong._

 _"Hm," Andreas murmured, unconvinced. "Who said I was trying to taunt you? You're putting words in my mouth. All I'm doing is telling you facts, Hart. Facts that you can't change."_

 _"We both know you're trying to rile me up. Quit trying to appear innocent."_

 _"You're right." Andreas admitted as he moved behind him, his smiling lips brushing against the microscopic hairs on Henry's ear._

 _"I was her first love, you know. She'll always have a place in her heart that'll always love me. Even if it's just a little. And one day she'll leave you for me. She will, Hart. She will.")_


	8. Chapter 7: Part Two

_First off, I owe you guys an apology. I definitely did not plan to go this long without posting. Being in school, working, and doing other things almost always in my free moments is truly taking up all of my time but I finally got around to uploading part two._

 _Another reason why I took so long was because I was on a huge creative block. There was no way I was going to write a half-assed chapter, post it, and call it a day. That's not how I write and never will be, so that was definitely another big reason on why posting this took a bit longer. It literally took months for me to write this chapter and I'm still not completely happy with it but I didn't want to let you guys wait any longer. I'm going to try to post the next chapter as quickly as I can and I truly appreciate all the love and support you guys are showing for this very impromptu story lol. It truly means a lot._

 _Hope you guys enjoy. (-:_

 _P.S. - These four songs (Pieces-Red, Pull-Spooky Black, Say you love me-Jessie Ware and Take the blame so I don't have to-Spooky Black) has helped me a lot with setting the mood in chapter seven as a hole. Give any of them a listen while you read them if you'd like!)_

 **UNEDITED**

* * *

Chapter Seven Part Two / No One

The world felt like it was moving in slow motion and even still, Jasper felt like he was unable to keep up. He wanted to vomit, to puke up the popcorn he had just consumed and spit the contents out all over Henry to somehow diminish at least some of the disgust he felt bubbling away in his gut.

After hearing everything that had happened, Jasper would've never thought, not in a million years, that Henry Hart was capable of doing such collateral damage to someone—to _Charlotte_. (How had he not realized the heartache she was going through sooner? How had he never realized her inner turmoil until it hit him square in the face as a direct plea? What kind of best friend was _he?_ )

Jasper blinked back unshed tears, his tongue licking his chapped lips continuously until he could finally look Henry square in the eyes. Jasper was shaking; the fury building up in his chest refusing to succumb to anything but anger and for the first time ever, Jasper was _fine_ with it. Henry had broken Charlotte's heart, hell, he nearly broke Jasper's just by hearing the story of their breakup. There was _no_ way in hell was Jasper just going to be okay with the way things ended.

In his opinion, Charlotte is too soft on Henry. Henry doesn't deserve her forgiveness even if it came with a punch in the face and a kick to the balls. He expected something like that to happen with Andreas or Piper and maybe even Ray, but _Henry?_ His best friend Henry? Never would he have even thought of him doing something like this.

Jasper sealed his eyes shut briefly and took a deep breath, his hardened walls shooting up in an instant. His blood was beginning to boil feverishly: the violent shaking of his bare hands nearly frightening him. Jasper has never felt this mad or disrespected. How had they not told him about this? About what they meant to each other? Most importantly, about their fucking breakup?

"Jasper?" Charlotte called, waving a quivering hand in front of his face as an attempt to catch his attention, to no avail. Jasper was too concentrated on the blond boy before him, his cloudy eyes burning with unshed tears.

Charlotte's nerves heightened as she watched him, his unfamiliar composure worrying her. "Jasper—" Charlotte gasped out once she saw the frustration in his expression contort to pure hatred. Jasper stood abruptly, immediately crowding the immobile blond beneath him.

"What are you doing?" Charlotte demanded, her shaking frame a feeble wall between him and Henry.

Jasper's eyes refused to even glance her way as he effortlessly moved her aside, blinking back the hot tears threatening to fall.

He picked Henry up by the collar with a guttural grunt, his teeth chattering against each other harshly. "You piece of shit!" He yelled out with a crack in his tone, no longer fighting his frustration. "You fucking asshole!"

Henry did nothing but stuff his hands in his pockets defenselessly, his head nodding in agreement to his words. "I know, Jas, I k—"

"You _do not_ deserve to nickname me right now!" Jasper shook him gratingly, his pupils twinkling profusely. "Out of _everyone_ to lash out at, _everyone_ to hurt, you hurt the one fucking person who doesn't deserve it!" Jasper wanted to smack him for nodding his head in agreement.

"I know." Henry's voice was raspy, quivering softly.

"That's enough, Jasper," Charlotte stood in between them, her dainty hands pushing Jasper towards the door. "It's time to go."

"No, the fuck it isn't." Jasper b-lined his way back to the blond, his brooding eyes planted firmly on Henry's fallen tear that travelled slowly down the apple of his cheek to the point of his chin, only to splatter softly against his plaid shirt. Henry's lips began to move, but Jasper blocked him out, unable to even tolerate the sound of his voice.

Jasper had never felt so angry in his life. Henry didn't get to cry. He doesn't deserve to feel pity from Charlotte, so why the hell was she trying to stop him? Why is she allowing him to waltz around her so freely?

Jasper felt himself inching closer and closer to Henry, the low growls emitting from his throat untamable. Jasper was losing it, both physically and mentally.

Faintly, he could feel the intensity of Charlotte's fingers gripping his biceps, calling desperately out to Piper and her friend for assistance. Why the _hell_ did she care so damn much?

The world began to speed up in his brain and he was unable to keep up with it. Everything was turning into a blur, Charlotte no longer considered a physical aspect in his mind but merely a distant thought, somewhere far, far away.

Jasper felt his body move on its on accord; his brain suddenly disconnecting from the actions of his body as he took a slight step back and raised his arm blindly, his angry fist connecting firmly with Henry's left eye.

He watched Henry stumble back in surprise with cloudy eyes, his hand gripping his eye as he winced from the pain. Jasper expected to feel _something_ after putting his hands on Henry—satisfaction, relief, hell, maybe even regret, but instead he felt nothing. He was seeing red as he recoiled himself away from Henry; grasping Charlotte by the shoulder once she tried to shuffle urgently to Henry's side, blurts of incoherent words spilling from her lips as she stared at him horrified.

"What the hell? Why did you hit him like that?" She cried, shoving his hand off her shoulder.

"After what he did to you?" Jasper said hotly. "He deserved it."

Henry could take the hit, Jasper knew this. In fact, he could probably take any of Jasper's blows. If Jasper was anyone else Henry wouldn't have hesitated to hit right back and then some, but this was _Jasper_ , and one thing he couldn't take was Jasper's anger directed at _him_. The look in his eye, the tremble of his body, it was all too similar to his own just earlier that day dealing with Andreas, and it hurt Henry more than any physical pain could ever provide.

"Hit me again," Henry's voice rasped out. He watched Jasper stare down at him with disgust before the words finally registered.

"What?"

"I deserve it. Hit me again,"

Jasper laughed dryly, shaking his head. "I didn't hit you because I knew you deserved it. I hit you because I needed it for my own personal sake," Jasper scoffed. "Get your shit together, Henry. You seem to be more like Andreas than any of us assumed."

"I know. I fucked up—"

Jasper's jaw locked in irritation, "No, you did more than just 'fuck up,' Henry. Out of all people, I would've never expected you to do something so terrible," He finished bitterly, grabbing his car keys from his pocket. "And to think, all this time I've been trying to help you two make up when I should've been encouraging her to stay the hell away from you." Jasper scoffed.

"Jasper, stop," Charlotte arose. "I can handle myself. I don't need your help dealing with this." She mentioned with a low bristle of annoyance.

Charlotte understood Jasper's disappointment—she was disappointed, perhaps even more so, the day her and Henry had split. But never did she allow it to get the best of her by turning into anger and then saying things she didn't mean and actually _hitting_ Henry. Maybe he deserved it, maybe he deserved a few more hits for good measure, but to Charlotte, she'd rather just move on.

It hurt to even reflect on the things she and Henry once shared.

But, truth be told, Jasper has endured a lot between her and Henry over these years and has remained patient and faithful to both: Charlotte was positive that punch felt a whole lot better than just getting revenge.

She walked to the kitchen and pulled out an icepack from the fridge silently, Jasper's angry curse words cutting the thick tension between the three. She placed it gently on Henry's eye without warning, grabbing his hand and placing it over the icepack. "Hold this on your eye for a while to soothe it. It'll help the swelling go down a bit. But it's still gonna swell a lot. So in twenty-four hours expect a full blown black eye that's gonna last you a few days." Charlotte instructed, ignoring eye contact.

"Thanks." Henry murmured softly, the routine of _'What to do when you get punched in the face by bad guys(and now Jasper)'_ already imprinted in his brain like clockwork.

"I'm sorry—"

"God, shut the _hell_ up." Jasper pulled at his hair in frustration. "It's so damn hard to take you seriously right now Henry. So damn hard."

"And that's fine," Henry quickly added, adjusting the icepack slightly. "I'm not looking for sympathy. I just want you guys to know that I really do realize my mistakes, and I've been trying— _trying_ to get things back to how they were. It would hurt, but I would understand if you guys never spoke to me for the rest of your lives if that helps you guys feel better. I just don't want to end anything with you guys on bad terms. That's all."

Henry watched Jasper shuffle around briefly before he fell against the couch with a heavy sigh, his head in his palms. Jasper was silent as Charlotte moved next to him, her hand resting on his shoulder for mute encouragement.

"Are you okay?" Jasper asked finally, inspecting his bruising eye.

Henry grinned slightly and nodded. "I'm fine. And I know you guys still have things to do. I'll be okay here alone. Piper's in the other room and I'll probably just go visit Ray upon special request."

Jasper nodded, standing briskly.

"You sure?" Charlotte asked patiently, warily staring down his swelling eye.

"Positive."

Another thing was, no matter how angry or how hurt (or in this case, _fucked_ ) Henry was in a situation, Jasper always seemed to be there for him, making sure he was okay. It was nice; to care for someone so much and to have those same feelings reciprocated. At the end of the day, Jasper was his friend—his brother, no matter what.

Before they left, Jasper turned around with a steady expression, his jaw stiff with lingering anger as they made eye contact. "If you ever do anything like that to her again, I will hurt you more than you could ever imagine. That's a promise." Jasper's voice was thick with earnest, his unwavering gaze flickering with scrutiny as Henry nodded his head in understanding.

"Trust me, I would never do that again. I was in a very bad place mentally at that time and I just.. took it out on her," It wasn't a lie—his mentality during that time was completely occupied with the words Andreas had said to him the night he came over. "It was wrong of me and I'll never stop apologizing for it."

If he believed him, Jasper made no effort to show him. Instead he glazed his tongue over his lips again and muttered a half-hearted goodbye, turning to leave.

When the door slammed shut just a few seconds later, the room suddenly felt much more dense without the tranquilizing company of Charlotte and Jasper.

* * *

The car ride was quiet. Jasper's attention stayed fixed on the busy road ahead, his bruised fist clenching the steering wheel occasionally. Charlotte was watching him mutely, averting them only when she'd see him look at her briefly from his peripheral vision.

She watched a stray dust particle sway easily across the suffocating air; turning left, right, then left again, only to collapse softly on the edge of the storage compartment, just shy of landing into the trail of dark inkiness below. Charlotte had wondered how it could be so graceful so effortlessly–unfazed by the not obvious _but_ obvious betrayal Jasper was trying to keep at bay (She felt terrible, she really did).

Unfazed by the loud horns being blown too many times to count, unfazed by her rapidly beating heart and uneven breaths, but most of all, unfazed by the words Henry Hart had spoken to her and only her just a couple hours before.

(How had it not shriveled up and curved in his direction? Unable to escape the gravitational pull of his words? Of the words it has been waiting to hear? How is it so.. so goddamn complacent of the unknown?)

"Char? Char? Charlotte?"

Charlotte snapped out of her thoughts and blinked softly. Did she seriously just compare herself with dust?

"You okay?" Jasper turned in her direction, his eyes gazing over her face in concern before they flickered back to the immersed road.

Charlotte murmured out a yeah, angling herself towards the window. She did _not_ want to have the conversation Jasper was trying to reel her into.

With a soft grumble of angry words towards the traffic ahead Jasper sped up just a tad. (As if he wasn't going over the speed limit already, but who cares about _that?)_ Charlotte grimaced and gripped the door handle. "Slow down, the school isn't that far away."

"You're already late to your rehearsal. I'm trying to get you there—"

"Just slow the fuck down!"

Jasper's lips fell into a firm line as he eventually slowed, pulling over and positioning himself in Charlotte's direction, watching her breathe heavily from her outburst. Jasper knew, in his mind, in his soul, in his voluminous hair, that Charlotte wasn't okay and hasn't been for a long time. "What the hell is wrong, Char? Am I finally gonna get an answer or are you going to bullshit me with "I'm fine" again? I know you're hurting, I can _see_ it. I've always seen it. And now that I know what happened you can vent to me, hit me, whatever. Just something," Jasper nearly pleaded, stared at her cloudy eyes. "You can't keep holding this in."

Charlotte shook her head dismissively, waving it off with a mere flick of her wrist. "I'm okay. What's done is done."

For several seconds Jasper debated on whether he should push the issue further or not. He was her fucking best friend for fuck's sake, she should _want_ to talk to him about the things that bothered her. Right? He rants to her all the time about the things that bothered him. Oliver and Sydney with their bickering and their _healthy fats_ , his fear of buckets going extinct, his curly hair losing its volume, (okay, _maybe_ he'd skip over his undying jealousy of her and Henry being able to mind-chat, but that's completely reasonable).

His brown eyes stared at her side profile intently for what felt like minutes, hoping Charlotte would eventually give in to his pleading stares (but she wasn't going to, he knew this).

"Okay." Jasper said finally, turning ahead and starting the engine again with a heavy sigh.

Charlotte blinked. "Really? You're going to drop it?" She looked surprised.

Jasper pulled off and nodded simply, "Yeah, I am. I've been asking you all week to talk to me and you refuse to. I'm not going to force you to do anything."

Charlotte was beginning to grow irritated with him. Not because of what he said, but because of how good of a best friend he was. "Thank you," she said slowly before it fell to silence again.

Charlotte scurried for something else to say. Something to help take both of their minds off of what's been occupying it for the past week. She felt like a terrible friend to Jasper as of lately and nothing but exposing her deepest inner turmoils to him seemed to make up for it. "I just, um," Charlotte stuttered lamely, fidgeting with her fingers. "Thank you for doing what you did back there."

Jasper laughed. "What? Punching Henry?" When he saw her nod, Jasper inhaled. "I did it for you."

"I don't need—"

"You don't need me to do that for you. I know," Jasper watched her roll her eyes. "But, something else I know is that you never had the guts to speak to him the way he spoke to you," Jasper started, ignoring the avert of her eyes. "You were too caught up in him, too caught up in your own heartache to deal with your anger. Am I wrong?"

Charlotte folded her arms across her chest firmly. "I don't want to talk about this."

"Just answer that for me."

"It's in the past," She forced out, licking her lips attentively. "I just.. I just want to move on from it."

"That's a damn lie and you know it," Jasper said knowingly. "I can hear the hurt in your voice, Char. The crack in your tone, the disappointment and the fucking _hurt_ he gave you. Why won't you allow yourself to feel for once? To expose yourself and actually open up to someone?"

"I don't need to," Charlotte uttered pointedly. The dust particle was still in its same place, swaying slightly only once Jasper would make turns. "I'm starting to move on."

"Damnit, Char. You still love him for fucks sake! Did you see the way you two responded to each other earlier? The look in your eyes? The touches? You're not even close to moving on! You're still in love with Henry, just admit it and tell him everything he's done that's hurt you in that has hurt you in the slightest and then maybe, just maybe you can consider moving on. But until you achieve those two things not a damn thing is going to change." Jasper was so tired of Charlotte always trying to be strong for everyone. She deserved to be vulnerable too, but even _she_ didn't believe that.

Charlotte twirled a curl absentmindedly, pursing her lips into a scowl, "I'm not in love with Henry." She declared defiantly.

"Really? That's your only reply?"

"And everything that happened earlier is nothing. I was just being a good friend," She added, raising an arched eyebrow at him. "Happy now?"

"Oh my god," Jasper muttered to himself. "You being in-denial is absolutely insane right now, Charlotte. Just admit—"

"There's nothing to admit!" When Jasper opened his mouth to say more, Charlotte huffed impatiently. "Look, I'm over Henry, okay? Whatever we once had was great, but it's over now. We've told you everything you need to know. What else is there?"

Jasper shrugged innocently. "Oh I don't know, _honesty_ maybe?"

"What?" She shrieked in disbelief. "I've been honest this whole time!"

Jasper pulled into the parking lot of the school, ignoring her as he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel.

"Do not ignore me Jasper."

"I'll quit ignoring you once you stop being so damn in-denial." He stopped right in front of the school's gym with a hard jolt just to rile her up a bit. "You need a ride home?" He asked distractedly, eyeing the McDonald's across the street. He was pretty hungry...

When Charlotte didn't reply, he looked at her with only mild interest, frowning once he saw her eyeing a random dust particle on the storage compartment. "If you really don't want to talk about it then we don't have to—"

She was quiet for a second or two before grimly murmuring out, "I'm in love with him, okay?"

Jasper's lips sealed shut as Charlotte rolled her head to look out the window. Her fingers were caressing the skin of her arm comfortingly.

"I.." Charlotte began. "I miss him but I can't let myself to go back to him. Not that easily."

Charlotte was a scattered mess; a jagged puzzle with pieces that didn't mingle well with one another. Jasper noticed this the second she allowed herself to finally open up to him—the hard shell she'd been determined to obtain all this time had finally dissolved to expose.. _something_.

But even with all of the stress she constantly endured, Charlotte's grace was impalpable. She still glowed effortlessly: the cloudiness of the twinkling sky complimenting her brown skin beautifully against his rather ragged leather seats, the glistening curls on her head framing her face perfectly. Charlotte stared ahead unblinkingly, the hazy look in her eye compatible with the murky clouds in the sky.

Charlotte was beautiful—the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. (But Jasper knew for certain if he was a girl, he'd probably take the crown).

Jasper sighed heavily and shut his engine off, pulling his keys out from the ignition rougher than necessary. "Look," He whispered gently, encouraging her to look at him. "Truth is I was hurt," He shifted uncomfortably once her gaze transferred to him.

"Hurt?" She drawled questioningly.

"I.." Jasper allowed the silence to linger. Just for a bit. Just to let himself search for the right correspondence. "I had missed some of the best weeks of you and Henry's lives. I missed that feeling of fulfillment of knowing my two best friends had finally found genuine happiness in someone romantically, but mostly, I missed the worst thing that could ever possibly happen to either of you—a broken heart."

Charlotte shook her head. "Jas—"

He didn't allow her to speak, "I let you walk around for days with you getting your heart broken constantly on your mind and I knew nothing about it until recently. Do you know how that makes me feel?" Jasper didn't realize his vision was beginning to blur until the hotness of his eyes began to burn. "Like shit, Char. Like.. like I didn't do something right. I should've known—"

"Jasper," Charlotte repeated sternly, her lips pressed into a firm line. "You did nothing wrong. Stop blaming yourself for things you couldn't control. We decided we'd not tell you, and I see how wrong it was to hide it from you for so long, but it was never because of you or anything you did."

Jasper was beginning to think he was setting a world record with his intrusiveness. "Yeah," He rasped out. "I'll pick you up, okay? Just text me."

He avoided Charlotte's gaze by busying himself with picking at his curls through the review mirror, appreciating how shiny they looked with the new moisturizer he'd tried out this morning.

"Okay," She said finally, leaving his car and slamming the door lightly, walking into the gym without a look back.

Jasper sat back in his seat and sighed heavily, dropping his façade once Charlotte made it into the building safely, his hands immediately rubbing his face tiredly.

He took out his phone and typed a message to the last person he'd ever thought he'd contact. His thumb hovered over the blue 'send' for five minutes until he finally clicked it.

 _ **Call me.**_

During the waiting game of the reply, Jasper drove over to McDonald's and ordered nearly half of the breakfast menu. He doesn't regret it once he's two pancakes, one breakfast burrito, and three English McMuffins deep until his phone beeped loudly.

Jasper bristled and set down his half eaten hash-brown, his fingertips itching to press ignore but he accepted anyway, bringing his phone up to his ear and said nothing.

The voice on the other end is all too familiar.

"I know you're on the other line, _Jas-par._ Care to give me the reason why I needed to call when you wanted to talk to me? I'm kind of in the middle of somethin.'" Andreas Diaz chuckled with amusement as something that resembled an explosive played several times in his background.

Jasper's fingers itched to hang up. "I need you to talk to you."

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

A pregnant silence hung over before Andreas hummed obnoxiously, " _The one thing I could never buy was more time."_

Jasper blinked.

He knew Andreas took his silence for ignorance once he hummed again. "It's Heilig. Pick up a book sometime Jas-par. Anyway make this quick, I need all the time I could get."

* * *

 **FRIDAY / A day before the Dinner with Henry's Parents /**

 _"I'm in love with you, Henry."_

 _Charlotte's voice was raspy and filled with hesitation as she utters those words to him for the first time, her hair in braids to eventually create the visual of her signature twist-out, her cheeks much paler and puffier than usual, and she only wore one of Henry's old plaid shirts and some leggings. An empty box of tissues lay next to her, along with her mixed-matched socks nearly hiding beneath the bed._

 _It seemed to be the least romantic way to express love to another, sick and tired and unkempt, but she'd done it anyway, her drowsy eyes barely looking up at him as she breathed in and out rapidly. She still hadn't finished the chicken noodle soup Henry made her two hours ago._

 _She'd gotten sick over the course of not taking care of herself the way she was supposed to. Charlotte had gotten to the point of never giving herself a break when it came to school and her friends that she'd wake up at five in the morning and wouldn't even be near her home until ten-thirty and beyond at night. It was ridiculous; but as soon as Charlotte had walked through the school doors in her current state, her school bag lazily occupying the bend of her arm and a box full of tissues in her free hand, sneezing precisely five times until she'd gotten to Jasper's locker, Henry wordlessly took Jasper's car keys from his hands and took Charlotte by the hand only to have her object with a whine._

 _("You are not coming to school like this. You're sick, Char,"_

 _She huffed stubbornly. "Henry I'm not going to ruin my perfect attendance—"_

 _He let go of her hand and picked her up bridal style instead, turning to Jasper. Henry ignored his questioning look at their intimacy and instead said, "I'll be back in time to pick you up when school lets out. I'll stay with Char." Then he left with Charlotte half-way asleep against his chest.)_

 _Her big eyes stared up at him but they appeared to remain unfocused, her fingers reaching for a kleenex to find the box empty already. She huffed with annoyance and crinkled her nose like a paper being balled up. One thing Henry could never achieve is halting his amazement for her beauty—even during her sickest days she seemed to leave him starry eyed. Henry was truly, truly, in love with her. And if he was being honest with himself, it was the kind of love he'd want to last as long as possible._

 _He wanted to say it back, he really did._

 _But once those words were said, it was like something in him had clicked, tying her word to what Andreas had told him a few nights back. He'd been able to block his words out and move on, because, well, the thought of Charlotte ever settling for someone like Andreas seemed laughable. She was too good for him—she was too good for everyone. But that quiet voice in the back of his thoughts still wouldn't dwindle down._

 _What if he's telling the truth?_

 _What if she did leave him?_

 _What if this was all some kind of sick game?_

 _What—_

 _"Get away from me." He nudged her hand off his shoulder as she scooter closer to him, her eyes widening._

 _"Henry I didn't mean to scare you off I—" Charlotte swallowed. "If you don't feel the same it's perfectly fine. I never expected reciprocation from you." She reached out to him again but watched as he stood, growing the space between them. "Henry—"_

 _("I was her first love, you know. She'll always have a place in her heart that'll always love me. Even if it's just a little. And one day she'll leave you for me. She will, Hart. She will.")_

 _He closed his eyes. "Tell me he's lying, Char. Tell me that you never.. you never told him the same words you're telling me." Henry let out a sheer sigh of frustration, his eyes looking at his ceiling as he fought off the tears convinced by Andreas._

 _"What are you talking about? What happened?" She stood on wobbly legs and sniffled from her stuffy nose, her tired eyes hooded._

 _Henry knew this was one of the last things Charlotte should be going through right now. She needed to rest—she still seemed to be as sick as she was this morning and there was no way she was going to let him get her to stay out of school another day. He should be holding her and making sure her temperature wouldn't go too high and massaging her scalp. He should be going downstairs to get a couple more boxes of tissues and cough drops._

 _But he wasn't. And somehow, his desire to know what happened between Charlotte and Andreas outweighed his nursing duties, even if it was none of his business._

 _Henry opened his mouth to speak but nothing but a cracked squeak emitted._

 _"Is everything okay?" Charlotte asked frantically, resting the back of her hand on his forehead. "Your temperature seems normal. What's going on?" Her voice was soft; soothing—full of admiration and love and a bunch of other things Henry refused to admit. Something was wrong._

 _"Tell me," Henry was seeing double. "Tell me you won't leave me for him, Char. Just.. just tell me that one thing."_

 _"I'm not going anywhere, Henry. Where is all of this coming from?" Her arms crossed over her chest, unknowingly pressing her small breasts together. If Henry wasn't so distracted, he perhaps would've stared longer, reliving the times they were pressed against his very own chest._

 _Henry stood. "I need to step outside for a second." His voice was coarse, a tone not even he recognized._

 _He felt tired; there was a terrible aftertaste at the back of his throat, gnawing at him._

 _Charlotte grabbed ahold of his arm and stepped in front of him, the fire in her eyes demanding his attention. "Henry," She deadpanned softly. "Tell me what's wrong."_

 _"Fine," He jerked his arm away from her grip, pacing his floor again. "You and him. That's what's wrong."_

 _"Me and.. him?"_

 _"Andreas, Char! I know what happened between you two! I know he was your first love and I know you'll always have some sort of lingering feelings for him, okay? I just—"_

 _"Excuse me?" Charlotte could've laughed. "Andreas wasn't my first love."_

 _"You two were something," Henry said knowingly. Andreas was too involved, too involved in everything revolving around Charlotte and for some reason she never truly went out of her way to stop him. It was as if she accepted that Andreas would always be apart of her life, that they would always somehow be connected. And Henry didn't like it. "He's too involved in us, Charlotte. And you don't even seem to fucking care—"_

 _"Because I don't, Henry! I care about you—about us! Andreas is the last person I ever want to think about! Why does what he tell you matter so damn much?"_

 _"Because—" Henry clenched his eyes shut. "Because I actually believe him for once. Something isn't right between you two, Char."_

 _Charlotte chuckled humorlessly, the dizziness in her head forcing her to sit down. "There is nothing between Andreas and I. If you don't believe me then I don't know what to tell you, Hen." The pit of her stomach felt like it was in flames, her temples pounding harshly against her skull as she winced softly. She didn't want to argue with Henry, especially not over fucking Andreas. He didn't matter, but somehow he still found a way to destroy something Charlotte cared about._

 _"I want you to believe me." Her voice cracked and she made no effort to fix it._

 _"I want you to stop fucking lying and tell me the damn truth! What happened between you two when you guys were younger? Before Jasper and I?"_

 _Charlotte heaved. "Andreas had a crush on me—"_

 _"Oh,_ reeaalllyy? _"_

 _Charlotte glared at him, "We were young, Henry. Neither of us had no official idea of what the term 'like-like' meant! If you would let me explain and stop interrupting me, then you would know that everything that happened between Andreas and I means absolutely nothing in comparison to now, especially after what I've felt with you."_

 _Henry's gaze softened only slightly as he watched Charlotte's eyes glaze over. "Okay, fine," He motioned towards her to proceed as he drop on his bed, intertwining his hands and sitting up straight. "Continue."_

 _Charlotte swallowed, "Andreas asked me to be his girlfriend when we were six and I said yes. It was nothing but two kids holding a title neither knew the actual meaning of. On his seventh birthday, we kissed underneath some tree by his house. A few days after that I broke up with him because he was leaving and he refused to tell me where,"_

 _"I can't sit here and pretend that at that time, Andreas hadn't meant something to me because he did. But it was never anything remotely close to being romantic. He was the only person I could confide in about my parents during that time before he left. But again, we were kids, we knew nothing about romance. I never loved Andreas—not like that." Charlotte hushed out, her eyes hastily following Henry as he bounced his left knee and his hands ran over his face more times than she could count. "We were kids, Hen."_

 _The desperate plea in Charlotte's voice alone had almost convinced Henry to forget about the whole thing. She was right—they were kids during that time. Kids did things like kissing under a tree and dating without knowing the official meaning. It was_ normal. _And he wanted to be understanding of that. But he couldn't._

 _Something was still missing. "I'm done."_

 _He didn't miss the waver in her voice when she said, "Done with what?"_

 _Henry could've screamed. "With this. Us, Charlotte. Something-"_

 _"I told you everything you needed to know about Andreas and I! We were kids—"_

 _"Something is missing!" Henry yelled, watching her sentence stop abruptly in her throat. "Something.. is missing."_

 _"Why don't you believe me?"_

 _The crack in her voice turned into a broken sob. The tears rolled down her cheeks freely, her sobs mixing with the coughs erupting in her throat. She was a mess, a broken one, much less put together than Henry had every seen her in all of their acquainted years._

 _She reached out for him, his name falling from her lips like a hopeful prayer. Henry stepped away reluctantly, swallowing the lump in his throat. He was breaking her heart._

 _"Get out."_

 _When she didn't reply, Henry allowed himself to watch her stand near his window, attempting to calm her uncontrollable breathing. The ugly sobs turning silent as she hastily wiped her tears away with the sleeve of his shirt she still had on. "Why are you doing this to me?" She rasped desperately. "I don't understand where all of this is coming from, we've been doing so well_ _—_ _"_

 _"We obviously made a mistake trying out this whole 'dating' thing. The couple of weeks we shared together was fun, but we can't keep ourselves in this delusion that this'll work out." Henry was lying through his teeth and even Charlotte knew it._

 _"Excuse me?" Charlotte licked her lips tentatively. "You decide you want to say this two nights after.." She trailed off shakily, looking away from him. Henry felt like throwing up._

 _"This is the right thing to do—"_

 _"Fuck you, Henry! I gave you all of me, I gave you every single thing I could ever give you, and you break up with me for what? For something that doesn't even matter anymore?" Her voice broke._

 _"You're not telling me something, Charlotte," His eyes squinted. "There has to be another reason why this guy is always around."_

 _"Insanity," She deadpanned. "Everyone knows that guy has a couple screws loose. Why entertain him? Why allow him to come in between us so damn easily—"_

 _The ringing of her phone cut her off, 'Andreas' popping up on the screen. Henry felt all of his self-restraint dissolve into something he didn't want to discover._

 _"Get the fuck out of my house." He turned his back, walking towards anything the didn't face her. He was livid. Why the fuck did she even have his number saved if he 'didn't matter?'_

 _"Hen—"_

 _"Get the fuck out Charlotte!"_

 _"God, if you'd just let me talk—"_

 _"There's nothing to fucking say Charlotte! Just fucking leave! We're over!"_

 _A long, jarring silence loomed over his room as he blinked back a tear or two threatening to fall. He should've never said yes to her—to_ them _. Good things like this only lasted for so long and it ran its coarse, but now he knew fate had finally caught up with him. His one and only priority was to be a sidekick and just that. Love did nothing but complicate things. No matter how much happier Charlotte made him feel in what felt like years._

 _He watched her internally unravel. He yearned to reach out, to make it better because he knew damn well that he could, but his feet stayed planted on the opposite end of his room. Rage versus Regret—his most intense dilemma._

 _In the midst of his quandary Henry glanced at her again to only see why he'd fallen in love with Charlotte in the first place_ _—_ _her spirit dancing alongside the angel and devil on her shoulders; her curls curving into the most deadliest smile he'd ever witnessed as they bounced. He watched as she contorted onto the devil's side only to roll over to the angel for guidance—her innocence covered with conflicting hesitance._

 _All the while, she still remained beautiful._

 _Then Charlotte pulled herself together all within the same second, bristly putting on her socks and shoes. The "Okay," that left Charlotte's lips echoed through his brain and entered his soul, all rage he felt towards her diminishing. Henry turned away, because he knew damn well if he even caught a glimpse of her leaving him he'd pull her right back._

 _His door closed quietly and a small tear rolled down his face slowly, a few soon following its lead. Henry never cried; much less over a girl._

 _But this was_ Charlotte _—intelligent, sassy, heartbroken Charlotte. She could make him do anything with a mere snap of her finger._

 _"Stay," Henry found himself saying to nothing yet everything. She was gone—so, so very gone._

 **UNEDITED**


	9. Chapter Eight

Hey guys, I hope you're all doing well. I'm so, so sorry for the late update. 2018 just hasn't really been my year but I've finally got it up for you guys. The next chapter will be up sometime next week, so look out for that. Again, thank you guys so much for all the love. :-) Enjoy.

 _ **WARNING:**_ _THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT_ (past-tense) _AND DETAILED MENTIONING OF DEATH/VIOLENCE_ (present).

 **A/N:** Also please note that the sexual bit is between two adolescents experiencing each other's bodies for the first time—so realistically, neither will be the best nor experienced in sex so do not expect any sexual expertise going on. Thank you.

Also it was my first time actually writing smut and I will like to gradually get better over time, so any respectable criticism is greatly appreciated!

 **UNEDITED**

* * *

Chapter Eight / No One

"Son."

Andreas licked his lips slowly, his phone nearly falling from his grasp at his father's tone from behind him. He sighed softly, but stayed put in his crouched position, ignoring the boy on the other end as he called for him.

He was much too close—his ragged, impatient breathing pushed out harshly from his lungs as he nudged his son impatiently, urging him to meet his eyes. "Gevolli." He settled with instead. He couldn't bring himself to look at him.

His father hissed disapprovingly near his ear, taking an irrational step forward as he hovered above him, his heavy breathing lurched into muffled puffs of air out of anger. "Do not piss me off today son. I am not in the mood for your retorts. We have dead people sprawled everywhere right now that need to be wrapped up and tossed into that garbage truck over there. No conversation could be worthy for this type of task. Get off the phone." His tone was harsh, rough around the edges with little to no emotion exposed—like it typically was.

From his peripheral view, Andreas could see his father seething; foam practically building up at the corner of his mouth. He almost laughed. It was pathetic—listening to Gevolli was something he'd never do.

He had an, at best, decent relationship with his father. They could engage in somewhat worthy conversation, spend a couple hours out of the day together without any threats being a major issue, hell, Andreas would probably even call him 'father' in public if he was feeling nice. But since then, since he threatened that Hart boy in front of her—of _Charlotte,_ he could never forgive his father for something so foolish.

Charlotte was never supposed to be exposed to the dangers of his life. Originally, his plan was to never even fucking see her again. She deserved more, a lot more than what he could offer her, even if that meant losing the person he loved more than life itself.

He couldn't even look his father in the eye anymore—he felt disrespected and on some level, maybe even disappointed. But nonetheless, he could handle Hart himself, Gevolli and his fucking goons were never supposed to interfere.

"I'm talking to an old friend." Andreas twirled his .45 pistol in his free hand, smacking his lips lowly. "We can continue this discussion once I'm off the phone, _pops_."

"I do not recall giving you a choice," Andreas's scalp burned as he felt himself being hoisted up roughly, staring up into the dark eyes both he and his father shared. "We need to be finished in sixteen minutes. That means I want to get the fuck out of here in ten with this place nice and crisp with no assumption of any lives being taken. Don't make me hurt you, boy. Get the fuck off the phone. Now."

"Tempting, however, I'll pass," Andreas murmured hoarsely, nudging Gevolli on his shoulder with his most prized possession. "Don't make me shoot you again. I said we can continue this discussion once I'm off the phone."

His lips curled into a smirk as he tsked softly again, tapping the gun on his father's chin rather softly. "Tell me Teddie, why do you underestimate me?" He murmured with a sigh before recoiling away, turning around and shooting three warning shots just passed the man behind him.

The sudden heat of action had made his father's goon's look their way only briefly, then proceeded with the task assigned to them. They were all wise enough to never intervene in a dispute revolving him and his Father's bitch—it would turn bloody extremely quick. Andreas has had to decapitate a few in the past for even daring to give him commands, but with Teddie, he was a mere toy. If Andreas wanted he could end his life now and bring his useless body to his home back in Italy, where Teddie's worthless burden of a wife and that child that occupied her stomach stayed, waiting anxiously for his arrival. But truth be told, he often enjoyed their little conflicts. He wanted him alive and well until he deemed him as good as dead.

Teddie has always been Gevolli's number one bitch. He looked out for him like no other—the word loyalty seemed to be the only damn word he could thoroughly understand. That was exactly why Andreas despised him. His father didn't deserve loyal men nor a loyal, once upon a time, wife. He deserved to rot in the hottest pits of hell.

He leaned to his left, a bullet barely passing his skull like clockwork, the heat of the smoke making him wince of displeasure once it nearly grazed his cheek. The bullet engrained itself on the wall behind him instead. He was used to this, sure, but that was the closest Teddie had ever shot.

"Teddie," Andreas mused, never turning his way, his eyes narrowed at the missed bullet. "Your annoying intrusion came just in time. Tell me, how's your annoying bitch been? She still pregnant?"

He heard Teddie shuffle slightly. "Put the gun down, sir." Andreas turned to him, jaw tensed as his unfocused eyes connected with Teddie's. He watched him.

"That bullet got entirely too close to me, Teddie," Andreas stalked towards him, clicking his teeth. "If it happens again, I'm slicing your throat in your sleep, missing your main arteries so you can bleed out slowly as your pathetic life flashes before your eyes. You're a bitch, yes? So stay in your fucking place."

For a brief moment in time, he could see Teddie's eyes flicker with something that reminded him of a taunting mock: a playful sneer, all ego and ridicule alike. He wanted to look closer, to see if he was just looking at his own reflection through his pupils but before he could the gaze was gone, casted over with his usual bland face. "I shot because I knew you could dodge it, sir. You're too wise to get shot with such a straight-forward bullet." He said robotically, then bowed. "However, I was too careless; I apologize." He left all within the same second. Andreas narrowed his eyes at Teddie's retreating figure.

"You're gonna be an adult soon, Andreas. But Lord knows you've been grown all of your life." Gevolli gripped his son's shoulder. "I'm proud of you for sticking up for yourself. For never needing me to do your dirty work. I've taught you well."

He shrugged his hand off, "yeah, well, it doesn't take much to make that bitch of a servant bow down it seems." He hated when Gevolli complimented him.

"Hey, Jas-par," Andreas said suddenly, finally giving the boy on the opposite end his attention. "Quit yapping into my ear for a moment, will you? I gotta handle some business for a couple minutes. I'll call you back in two shakes of a squirrel's tail." His tongue licked his upper lip as he ended the call, then raised his gun to his father's head—right in between the eyes. He's dreamt about pulling the trigger countless times.

"You watch Teddie, Pops. And you watch him good. It seems he takes me for some fool who won't plant a bullet in his temple." He dropped his arm limply at his side once his father latched onto the gun.

"Don't worry about my men. I worry about my men. What I want you to do is help clean up the deceased. We need—"

Andreas raised his hand to silence him. "How's this: I'll finish my conversation with the curly headed freak in exactly three minutes and after that I'll do whatever you want. If I am not done before those three minutes, I'll allow you to shoot me in the foot."

He walked away before Gevolli could give him a proper answer. He was very aware that he was his father's only weakness—he was the only blood he had with him physically in the United States, Gevolli would never even think to harm him. He took advantage of his father, that was for certain.

Jasper answered the phone by the second ring—he sounded like his mouth was stuffed with something. "Hello?" Andreas said curtly. "Jassy, you've got two minutes and fifty-eight seconds to talk."

"I'm Jasper! Not Jas-par or Jassy—"

"Two minutes and fifty-five seconds.."

"Excuse me? And what the hell is going on over there—"

"Two minutes and fifty-two seconds."

"Okay, okay, fine! Just stop counting," He heard the curly freak sigh softly once he'd stopped counting, however, his watch was still doing the countdown—he does enjoy being able to use both of his feet, after all.

"I know you're in love with Charlotte."

Andreas chuckled softly. "Do you want a cookie for solving Andreas's mystery puzzle?" He checked his watch, "It was never a secret, Jassy. I've always made my intensions clear. I take what I want. I get what I want. Nothing more, nothing less."

Jasper made a sound of disapproval. "You didn't let me finish."

Andreas lips pursed, his eyes squinting at nothing in particular. "You have exactly two minutes and thirty-five seconds left before I hit click. I suggest you finish soon." The last thing he wanted was to be discussing anything remotely close to romance with Jasper—he was a dud—a boring one. He brought absolutely no purpose to Andreas's life and because of that he just didn't matter. Sure, he was Charlotte's friend, but what _else_ was there to him?

"I won't be long. I just wanted you to know that you're Jennifer. You strive off the pain of others if it's to your benefit and you don't care who's affected by it! You're a selfish prick who thinks he can score another chance with Charlotte but news flash bucko! You can't!"

Andreas blinked, "Who the hell is Jennifer?"

"That's not the point-"

"You know," He interjected, "I would've figured your alter-ego having the name of like, Jazmine Curls, or maybe Jazzy Curlz, but with Z's instead of S's. More fancier, you know?" Andreas checked his watch, his eyes narrowing softly once he realized his little banter had only took away a few seconds.

"My alter-ego? I—wh—okay, yeah, no. It's from a movie you fuck face, you know the one with Megan Fox? Yeah that one. She plays the hot demon who strives off the demise of men." Jasper explained.

Andreas feigned interest, "Hm, maybe I'll watch it sometime. I've always had an, although somewhat classified, fascination with dead men," He checked again—two minutes. "Especially blonds. Can't fucking stand 'em."

"That's not funny," Jasper's voice wavered only slightly, self-consciously glancing at his blond curls through the review mirror.

"It wasn't a joke."

"Anyways," He muttered quickly. "I'm asking you this as a favor, Andreas," He heard him shuffle a bit through the phone, possibly altering his position. "I know it's weird for me to be asking you, of all people for help but." He stopped.

Andreas raised a dark eyebrow. "But.."

Jasper was breathing heavily now, frantic and nervous and Jasper-like. His hesitance only ignited Andreas's sudden interest. "Don't be a bitch, Jassy. Tell me what it is you want and I'll see what I can do for you,"

"I need a gun."

Andreas inhaled a breath that resembled the sound of a sharp intake—except it wasn't, it was a small, calculated long-lived sigh he wanted to drag out as long as possible. "Jasper, it's getting late. You should get some sleep," Andreas looked around thoroughly checking to see if anyone was eavesdropping on his conversation—there was no one. His timer, now a frustrating, tantalizing little noise continued to click into his eardrums. He felt drunk; his footing was beginning to fail him and his breath was short and shallow.

"Andreas-"

"You have absolutely no idea what the fuck you're asking me, Jasper. You have absolutely no fucking idea just how dangerous a gun is," When he attempted to interrupt him again, Andreas grunted roughly, an unsettling noise that made Jasper succumb to silence.

"The thing with it is," He twirled his own gun at the edge of his fingertips, licking his dry lips as he sat down on the asphalt, his knees propped up. "Guns are just guns—something used to cause destruction, take lives and maybe even save lives. But they never have a name attached to them, Jassy. It doesn't matter how much that piece of metal means to you, if it's in the hands of another awaiting for your death, it'll gladly take you there." He glanced at his watch—almost less than a minute left. He stood.

"Charlotte cares about you, Jasper," He couldn't help the soften in his voice as she came to mind. "And I've done some pretty questionable shit in the past, but one thing I never allowed was for Charlotte to be around any type of danger. Whether it be guns, explosions.. myself," When he was met with the heavy breathing of Jasper, Andreas couldn't help but wonder if he was exposing too much of himself to him. His loyalty would always lie with that Hart boy, after all.

"But anyways," He started back, attempting to appear confident and stable and unbothered. "As long as you're with her, by her side practically 24/7, the answer will always be no. I'll never be able to live with myself if the gun I give you gets into the wrong hands and she's at the end of it."

"Andreas, I'm not stupid. I've handled guns before, I'm not completely a rookie. I just.. I just need it for a little while." The silence loomed over Andreas's head, full of dread and desperation and maybe even vulnerability. He hated it: he hated the curly headed freak attempting to reveal himself to him, even if it was in some twisted, obscure way of trying to get him to say yes to his favor.

"Did you ever bother asking me why I need it?" He asked again suddenly.

Andreas kicked a stray pebble. His vision was starting to get blurry as he watched the next thirty seconds tick by. Jasper was silent the whole entire time. Andreas was grateful for that.

"I don't think I need to, Jasper. I truly.. don't think I do." Andreas hung up with so much force he'd nearly allowed the phone to slip through his trembling fingers. He cursed to the sky.

He'd be _damned_.

* * *

 _It was dark._

 _The bare luminescence of the moon radiated across his rooftop as he and Charlotte settled into their positions. It was something about the moonlight that complimented Charlotte so effortlessly. She always looked beautiful, always, but tonight there was just something about her. Maybe it was the way she kept failing at catching the skittles in her mouth, or the way she hummed softly to Frank Sinatra playing from her phone._

 _She grabbed ahold of his hand softly but never took her eyes off the moon. It was in its waning gibbous phase (something he learned from Charlotte). She rolled over on her back, the heavy fabric of her sweater rising and exposing a small silver of skin. She made no effort to fix it, so Henry did it for her._

 _"I want to tell Jasper," She said suddenly, distracted, still never sparing him a glance._

 _"Me too," Henry murmured. "He deserves to know."_

 _"He deserves the whole fucking world, Hen. He deserves honesty," She threw a skittle in the air, opening her mouth to catch it, only for it to land inside of her hair. "We're fucking awful for being together behind his back."_

 _Henry held up his thumb in front of the moon, closing one eye whilst covering it. Blackness. "Do you think he'll be mad at us?"_

 _She crossed her legs at her ankles, "Never."_

 _He leaned down, staring at her. "Let's hope so." He gave her an upside down kiss, his bottom lip connecting with her top one and her bottom lip connecting with his top one._

 _It was times like this where he wished there was no outside world._

* * *

 _At 2 a.m., now just a few hours away from having to attend school, Charlotte felt like taking a bubble bath._

 _But not a literal bath, she just wanted the tub filled with bubbles. She had caught a glimpse of the random bubble container underneath Henry's bathroom sink he's had since he was six, and refused to take no for an answer._

 _The house was quiet; but his bathroom door had a lock on it, so they figured they'd keep it down, The Weeknd's 'XO' album playing softly in the background._

 _(Turns out, neither one of them knew how to make bubble bath without water, so they simply added the remaining of the contents inside the bubble container and let the water run enough for the bubbles to heighten in size, pouring out of the tub)._

 _They dressed down until their undergarments and sat in the bubble-like tub for a whole five minutes in pure silence, Charlotte putting bubbles at the top of Henry's head and around his mouth as an attempt for a mustache._

 _"Would you mind if I took my bra off?" She had asked suddenly, and Henry swore he almost choked up his dinner._

 _"W-wh.. your what?"_

 _"It's okay if you say no-"_

 _"NO! No, no, no.. wait—yes? No, I mean do not put it back on.. if you don't want to? I just—what?"_

 _"You ever seen breasts before, Hen?" Charlotte laughed, a mischievous glint in her eyes._

 _"In porn and scam websites, sure," He watched as she rolled her eyes. "I just don't want you to think—"_

 _Charlotte smiled softly, giving him a lingering kiss at the junction that connected his neck and shoulder. "I'm taking it off because I want to, Henry. Not because I want to please you. That's easy to do," She murmured cockily, throwing her bra out of the tub._

 _The bubbles covered her up, and Henry was both disappointed and relieved. He was aware that Charlotte knew he didn't want her to think he was just with her for sex: that was the least of his worries. But he didn't want her to think she had to do these things to please him, either. He'd wait an eternity for her._

 _He watched her, attempting to meet her eye, but she never spared him a glance. Instead, she occupied herself with piling bubbles on top of his head, her eyes scrutinizing it to avoid his gaze. The only sounds really being heard were the soft murmur's of The Weeknd's words and their breathing._

 _"You drive me fucking crazy, Charlotte." Henry muttered softly, hiding his face into her heated neck, forcing her arms to fall limply._

 _She smelled like skittles and the faint smell of some perfume, a bit of sweat lingering itself somewhere into the mix. She positioned herself closer to him silently, her legs on either side of him now. "I know." Was all she said._

 _When she pressed her breasts against his chest, he inhaled sharply._

 _"I want you to touch me,"_

 _She had the words so quietly and, truthfully, Henry had almost believed he didn't hear her right, but once he felt her push him away softly, her eyes fierce and determined and clouded, he knew she had said just wait he predicted._

 _His hands held onto her hips as he stared at her for a few seconds before their lips brushed. Henry connected them, the warmth of her small figure cementing against his own._

 _They've made out before—plenty of times—but usually, Henry would make mental notes on where he'd touch her, or even how long he'd kiss her for because he knew he could easily get carried away. He had long been ready for sex with Charlotte for a while now; they've known each other long enough for Henry to decipher this, but Charlotte didn't have to tell him she wasn't ready for sex because he just knew—hell, being observant was apart of his job._

 _He never pressured her, that was never and will never be his thing._

 _Tonight, however, Charlotte was taking the initiative, her hands traveling across his abdomen shamelessly as she deepened their kiss. The way her hips grinded against his—_

 _He pulled away, eyes darkening. "Char," He said, "Maybe we should—"_

 _"I want to keep going," She interrupted calmly, surely, her fingers running through his damp hair. "I.. I like this."_

 _"Charlotte," His finger traced over her face, attempting to meet her eye. She had turned shy, her teeth chewing on her lower lip. He resisted the urge to replace her teeth with his own. "You don't have to—"_

 _"I'm ready," She said softly, her tone firm and determined. "I.. I want to."_

 _Henry narrowed his eyes, searching for any sort of deception. "Are you su—"_

 _"I'm sure."_

 _He was silent after that. "I-In here?"He motioned at his bathtub, bubbles covering every inch of their skin. He felt like his heart was going to explode; as much as he was excited, he was nervous. The last thing he wanted to do was make Charlotte uncomfortable. Sure, he's made out with a few girls before, but that was as far as he's ever gone. He was just as new to sex as she was._

 _She cracked into a grin, "Maybe your bed would be more suitable."_

 _Henry had made sure to pay extra attention to her body language once they made it to his bed, her legs on either side of his hips as she grinded down against him. He wanted her to set the tone—to do anything she was comfortable with (because honestly, he was down for anything)._

 _The sounds she made against his lips did things to him. Charlotte was right—it didn't take much for her to get him aroused: some dry humping and slow, sensual, tongue kissing had done just the trick before she pulled away slightly, her eyes playful. "You're hard already?" She had mumbled comically, her lips wet and swollen._

 _"Shut up," He grumbled, moving his lips to her neck._

 _She had grown shy once the remaining of their clothing had began to come off, asking him quietly to turn the lights down, and he easily did so with absolutely no complaints. "So beautiful." He breathed out, outlining her body affectionately with his hands for what felt like eternity._

 _When she reached out to him, her hands traveling across his exposed erection, his skin felt like it was on fire._

 _He spread her legs slowly as he breathed heavily, his eyes never leaving hers. They had definitely done enough foreplay to get them both heavily stimulated, but he still wanted to take extra pre-caution. "Char, are you sure? We can stop—"_

 _She grabbed his hand tenderly, bringing it down to where he was anticipating most. When he felt her arousal, all of it, Henry swore he saw stars. "Fuck, okay, wow you're not shy."_

 _Charlotte giggled softly. "You're too worried. I want to do this with you. The whole thing, Hen."_

 _"I've never.." He swallowed. "I'm kind of nervous."_

 _He felt her shift slightly, her hands brushing against his hips. "That's okay. I am, too."_

 _He rubbed along her slit at first, and that alone had her moaning and bucking against his hand. So he kept going, his thumb eventually finding her clit and flickered it a few times._

 _The way she moaned his name out made his dick stir. "I'm going to stretch you out a little, okay?" He murmured against her ear, his finger circling her opening softly. "If it hurts, let me know and we'll stop."_

 _When she nodded, he slowly eased a finger in, observing the way her face scrunched. "Oh," She yelped in surprise, wincing slightly._

 _"Do you—"_

 _"Keep going," She whispered. Henry could feel she was trying to relax._

 _He knew usually during a girl's first time of sex, orgasms weren't likely. He wanted this as enjoyable as possible for her, so he slowly brought his face down between her legs, purposely breathing heavily against her opening. She clenched at the feeling. "Henry, you don't have to," She said airily, distracted by his fingers._

 _"I know, but I want to."_

 _He had never went down on a female before, but he had a pretty general idea of how it went, and it was enough to make her orgasm. That was his primary goal—he wanted her to feel good, and he knew a well stimulated Charlotte was the only way to do it. The way she moaned out his name made him both dizzy with lust and it fueled his determination to make her cum. If it was one thing he had learned from that night, it was that Charlotte was quite the squirter._

 _He allowed her to jerk him off for a bit before he pulled out a condom he had gotten from Ray when he told him about Charlotte(he made a mental note to thank him later) from his dresser, then settled himself comfortably between her legs. His lips connected with hers and his hands toyed with her breasts as a way to distract her from the possible pain she was going to experience. And it worked to a certain extent, but both of them were aware of the possible uncomfortability_ _she was going to feel regardless, so they went as slow as they desired, for as long as they wanted._

 _He was patient with her the whole time, whispering heartfelt words to her and massaging her sides softly. She had been so shy yet so eager the whole time. Henry had never seen anyone so beautiful. He wondered if he had done anything to deserve a night as spontaneous as that one._

 _He settled with a no._

* * *

 ** _UNEDITED_**


	10. Chapter Nine

Sorry for the late upload guys.

Somehow, all evidence of this story was deleted from my laptop-including the chapter nine and ten I already had written. So yeah, I was pretty pissed about that and was too upset to re-write anything until tonight. That's why this chapter is being uploaded so late but I've already started on re-writing chapter ten(gonna make it much longer due to this one being so short) and it'll probably be up within the next two weeks when I'm on winter break.

Thank you guys for all of the love, I appreciate it!

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Chapter Nine / Henry

Two months and several mentally draining exams later, Henry could finally say he was done with his exams. It was hard, to say the least, especially when he barely had time to incorporate studying into his already busy schedule. He had done okay on most of them; nothing too exciting to brag about, but nothing to terrible to mope over, either.

He was sure Charlotte had passed all of hers with flying colors. She had this new profound glow to her now, her smile just a little bit more wider, the bags underneath her eyes were gaining less and less color as the days passed, and she no longer had to scatter from point A to point B as frequently as she used to. Henry was glad.

He had more time to spend over at the Man cave with Jasper, Schwoz, and Ray now, learning more about Schwoz's impromptu inventions and focusing more on how he could improve on his endurance.

Despite it all, Henry was still distracted. And it was always by the same damn thing—the same damn thing he'd unconsciously envision whenever he'd close his eyes. It was at the constant forefront of his mind—of every single dream and every fucking nightmare he had. It was haunting, deliriously so.

But, it was something about seeing her in person: her natural glow, the signature look of emptiness and longing she'd give him whenever their eyes connected, hell, just her in general. His mind could never get her most intricate details quite right, so his eyes does the job for him instead.

Henry walked down the narrow busy streets, the faint smell of pastries circling his nostrils as he passed by a small, yet busy bakery on the corner of Belmont Street. He ignored it, blinking upwards instead, Swellview's skyscraper twinkling at him teasingly as the sky transferred into a vibrant rosey orange, clouds dispersing slowly.

Henry wasn't sure why he said yes to Oliver and Sidney's invitation to hang out with them at some vegan ice cream parlor on the wealthier side of town when he knew all they were going to do was bicker. And also judge him on all of his terrible life choices, and maybe even throw in some name-calling if they were feeling extra fancy.

He shouldn't have been surprised to see Thing 1 and Thing 2 a few minutes early to their scheduled meetup, occupying the booth near a large window and the emergency exit. They had menu's in their hands already, identical eyebrows furrowed and lips twisted into concentrated frowns.

It didn't really register to him that Charlotte and Jasper were there, too, sitting across one another and exchanging similar glances of annoyance, until he was a mere few feet away from the booth. The sight of Charlotte had barely made him shuffle. He took that as a small accomplishment.

"Hey," He greeted lamely, catching everyone's attention. He raised an arched eyebrow once no one made an immediate response to greet him.

Oliver pursed his lips, eyeing the menu with mild interest. "Everything on here looks.. fattening," He said, putting his menu on the table, his eyes following. "I'm on a low carb diet." He spoke to no one in particular.

"The carrot flavored one looks promising," Sidney offered, flickering his eyes to Oliver.

"Carrot?" Jasper repeated.

"Carrot."

"That sounds fucking disgusting."

Sidney made a sound of disapproval with narrowed eyes, "Fuck off pea brain! Some of us actually takes proper care of our bodies!"

"You go to one vegan restaurant and suddenly you enjoy taking care of your body?" Jasper scoffed. "Don't act like I didn't see you gulping down those hot cheetos yesterday."

Oliver gasped dramatically, his hand over his heart. "Sidney! I told you about those stomach killers!"

"First of all," Sidney sassed, raising a finger, "I had a handful." His voice cracked.

Jasper scoffed again, unconvinced. "Oh shut the fuck up."

Henry took a seat next to Jasper—diagonally across from Charlotte. He shifted awkwardly once she refused to meet his eye.

"I think the avocado flavor looks better," Oliver intervened. "It's made with almond milk, too. Which is great because I have a date tomorrow. Looking bloated would not be a good look. Don't you agree, Charlotte?" Oliver raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Charlotte hadn't even spared him a glance, "It's not a date," She deadpanned, "We're meeting up so I can explain to you the process of how your volcano will explode without burning the school down because you never seem to grasp onto the simple explanation whenever I explain them with Sidney there," She shook her head before adding, "You two can never get anything done together."

"Yeah, whatever," Oliver waved her off. "Self-denial doesn't look good on you, princess."

"And you reek of lifelong rejection and pathetic desperation," She countered back. "It's not happening, Oliver. Find some other girl's tree to bark at."

Henry shifted awkwardly once his eyes met briefly with Oliver's, who just stared at him smugly. "You reject me but you go out with that skinny blond bimbo over here?" He laughed as if he had actually found it funny. "Make it make sense!"

Henry watched Charlotte falter for a brief second from his peripheral view, her jaw noticeably tensing as her eyes squinted at the menu. "Fuck off." She grumbled hoarsely, her fingertips clenching the thick fabric of her sleeves with unnecessary force. Henry shifted again, deciding it was best for him to not say anything at all.

A mother and her son passed by them during a brief pause in conversation; the child placed comfortably inside of a stroller, bundled in a puffy jacket with a large, wool scarf possibly much too big for his little body wrapped securely around his neck as his head lolled to the side, a little beanie perched high, tucking in strands of curly hair. The mother, oblivious to anything but her son, smiled softly at the sight, her eyes twinkling with mute fondness.

Henry blinked before he peered around; the parlor was semi-crowded, filled with mostly young, sweater covered college students who seemed to dominate the atmosphere of the place. The sun was beginning to set and Henry could already feel the strong incoming spring breeze even whilst protected by four walls.

He always believed the sunset was similar to Charlotte—fiery, blinding, warm.

The waiter, who looked freakishly like he could pass as a distant relative to Oliver, eventually came, a wide, gummy smile taking up nearly half of his face. "How you guys doing this evening? My names Aaron and I'm gonna be taking care of you guys today," He had said cheerily—most likely trying to win them over early in hopes of a guaranteed tip. Henry made a mental note of the random ten dollar bill he had in his pocket—he always tried to tip generously whenever he could.

"Hm," Oliver said, shoving the menu into Aaron's arms with unnecessary force. "I'll take the avocado ice cream flavor with coconut flakes and frozen strawberries and blueberries on the side." He informed before Aaron even had the opportunity to take out his pen and pad. Still, Aaron nodded confidently, seemingly mentally keeping tab of his order.

"Of course," He said, writing his order down. "And would y-"

"I'll take the carrot flavored one with chocolate sprinkles and marshmallows, please," Sidney interrupted. "Oh!—And a large glass of water with lemon."

Though Henry hadn't seen Aaron make a discreet face of annoyance, he was sure the guy was sick of them already. Aaron nodded as he wrote, then flickered his gaze expectantly on Jasper once he was finished. "By the way," He began professionally. "All of our new flavor entrees are in the back of the menu. The Java Chip one has been a costumer favorite for the passed two weekends," He leaned in closer. "But to me personally, I would recommend the Green tea coconut. It's amazing."

"I'll try that one," Charlotte folded her menu and handed it to him, returning his friendly grin.

"Boring," Jasper replied. "Give me the molten lava with chocolate and caramel syrup," Then he pointed to Henry, "And give him the same."

If Henry wasn't so out of it, maybe he would've protested against Jasper's words, but right now, his appetite was the last thing he could think about.

Last night, he had stayed up until three a.m. wondering how the hell he's gotten away with keeping his identity as Kid Danger under wraps. He's had some near scares, definitely, and he was almost positive Charlotte had her skepticism whenever he'd break away from a group hangout abruptly. His secret was bound to be found out from her eventually, he just knew it.

Sometimes, Henry felt like he was nearly tied to Swellview. If he went off to college, _away,_ then he'd be leaving Ray behind, and that meant he'd be leaving Kid Danger behind, too. For at least a little while.

He was hyper-aware that he wasn't obligated to be Kid Danger, he could stop anytime he desired, but Kid Danger had become apart of him in the most personal of ways. He wasn't sure if he was ready to let go of that yet.

He had gotten into Santa Barbara State and Alabama State—two schools in his top ten. Two schools miles upon miles away. Two schools he wasn't sure he was ready to accept or deny just yet.

Henry adjusted himself uncomfortably in his seat at the thought, barely noticing Aaron's departure. He heaved out a sigh as his eyes downcasted anxiously on the marble table, his lashes kissing the top of his cheeks softly.

He had caught Charlotte staring at him a few times, her eyebrows furrowed in the slightest of ways and lips frowning pensively. But as soon as the expression etched across her face, it was gone, as if she had never peered his way.

* * *

"I'm stuck, Jas." Henry had said after they dropped Charlotte off. Sidney and Oliver had taken an uber, refusing to ever be seen in Jasper's bucket of a car. Instead, they wanted a car, ' _a black lux'_ kind to be most specific. Henry couldn't lie—the Porsche that pulled up to pick them up was badass.

Jasper hummed knowingly, never taking his eyes off the road. "She loves you, you know."

Henry rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I heard she got accepted in Stanford."

Jasper nodded, smiling faintly. "Yeah, she did. She plans on going."

Henry swallowed, blinking a couple of times before sighing, "I'm proud of her. She deserves it. She's going to be famous one day, you know," Henry murmured before he could stop himself. "Maybe she'll come up with some cool, new invention. Or maybe she'll cure type two diabetes. I don't know. But. She's going places, Jas."

It was silent for a long time. Henry felt like he was suffocating in his own head. He felt queasy yet happy all the same, forcing his breathing to at least not sound so heavy.

"I love her." Henry said, surely, positively, brokenly. He felt like the world was closing in on him, everything eventually feeling denser and denser. He shrugged off his jacket, throwing it carelessly into the backseat. Jasper said nothing for a long, long time.

Then, Jasper spoke, "She'd stay here. If you told her to, she'd stay."

Henry rested his head against the window. "I know." His voice cracked. "And I feel horrible because I want to convince her to stay. I want.." He licked his lips. "I want her with me." Henry was selfish when it came to her; in every sense of the word. And yet, he never hesitated to push her away, either.

She deserved someone who was precise—who had a plan and was as smart as she was. Someone to challenge her for the good, who would never dare to question her loyalty due to their own insecurities.

Jasper was still upset with him. He understood. He accepted it. He was still upset with himself, too.

"Hm," Jasper hummed noncommittally. "You know damn well there's nothing left for her here. She's a genius. She deserves to broadcast her talents to bigger, well known cities where she's destined to thrive. Not here. Not in Swellview, Henry. Out of everything she's been through, she deserves it."

He pulled up to his house, eerily so, as if hesitant to end their conversation there. Henry sniffled, eyebrows furrowed, before he grasped onto his jacket and flickered his weary eyes to his best friend. "I'll call you, okay?" He said. It seemed to come out more as a plea than a question.

Jasper nodded stiffly, watching him go in the house before pulling off.

Henry pulled out his phone with trembling fingers, somehow finding Charlotte's contact through blurry eyes. He hummed brokenly as he made his way to the couch, giving Piper a half-hearted greeting.

"You okay?" She stared at him, popcorn in her hands as she watched TV.

Henry shrugged numbly. His chest felt heavy and the lump in his throat was becoming unbearable. "You know, when people talk about being in love, they always forget to talk about the part where you feel like complete and utter shit."

Piper blinked. "Charlotte's really putting you through the wringer, I see." She laughed.

Henry wasn't sure whether he wanted to cry or call her and tell her he's sorry, that he misses her and that he wants her to come back to him. To not think about Stanford, because lord knows that once she's gone, she's gone. Anything Henry Hart related would be a thing in the past.

"Fuck." He felt like screaming. He felt like calling her and telling her he loved her. That he still fucking loves her.


	11. Chapter Ten

A Throwback! Enjoy!

WARNING: Although there are no actions, I would like to warn you guys ahead of time that there is blatant pedophilia(obvious attraction and the use of expression), physical and verbal abuse, and child neglect. Also, explicit descriptions of torture/death and prostitution/sex trafficking for both adults and children. This chapter is pretty fucked up (not extremely) but please note that this chapter is pivotal to future chapters. If you have any issues with these, do NOT read.

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Chapter Ten /

Today after school, Janice walks her home instead of Ms. Mom. She tells her how they're gonna have an extremely important visitor tonight, and that she needs to be on her best behavior if she wants those animal crackers with sprinkles and vanilla frosting for dinner tomorrow tonight. She obliges eagerly because she always does, then reaches for Janice's hand to hold, only for her to flinch away impulsively. She doesn't try to grab it again.

When they finally get home, she's hit with the usual scent of stuffiness and must—and opens up the window with a grunt.

It was like this every day. She'd come home from school, excited to tell Ms. Mom and Janice about the new things she learned even though she knew they only half-listened, do the homework she'd have, if any, clean the kitchen, fold the laundry (only on Thursday's-Janice says that's when the laundry house is less pact—whatever _that_ means), tidy up her spotless room, then clean up the living room. Every morning she'd wake up to the smell of stale cologne, synthetic wool, and something odd, a musty stench almost. She hated it—hated the living room. Hated cleaning it.

Then she'd boil hot water on a stove that sometimes flickered and would pour the pot of hot water into the tub to take a bath. For dinner, she'd always have the same thing: fruit snacks and ravioli. Once, she had asked why that was the only thing she ate, about how her teacher Mrs. Kagman had said a dinner like that was not appropriate, and Ms. Mom had smacked her right across her face with eyes burning with angry tears. She told her not to tell anyone about dinnertime—about her home life, how it's private. She nodded, compliant, obedient, and said yes ma'am. She never asked again.

Ten minutes before bedtime, she overhears Janice and Ms. Mom argue profusely in the kitchen about something relating to bills. Their voices are hushed, frustration and annoyance evident in each word they spoke. She doesn't miss the part when they eventually bring her name up, talking about the possibility that perhaps boiling hot water for her baths wasn't necessary and she could settle for cold ones if the hot water doesn't work. She swallows solemnly, watching her legs dangle off the couch.

.

She's laying in bed now, blinking up sightlessly at the chipping paint on the ceiling with blurry eyes, her fingers caressing the thin material of her quilt as she eavesdrops on the conversation going on just a couple doors down. The voices are effortlessly familiar. Two are soft—hushed and careful, attentive to the child nearby. The other—a quite booming sound—was loud and calculating. She doesn't think he's aware of her presence. Ms. Mom and Janice seems to want to keep it that way because she can never, ever leave her room after 9PM. Especially on weekends. Janice says that when it's most busy and they couldn't risk the decline of income. She doesn't know what that means, but she nods anyway when she says it to at least let her think she understands.

Their voices filter through the thin walls all at once, and she can hear the slight trembles in Ms. Mom's voice. That was something that happened often. You see, Ms. Mom had always been the most emotional. And Janice was always the one to pick up her broken pieces.

Tonight, however, Ms. Mom seems to be terrified.

Her voice wavered precariously after almost every stretched syllable she stuttered out, and she sounded like she was near actual tears. Janice didn't make the usual soothing noises to console her. Instead, she proceeded to murmur about something related to debt (whatever _that_ means). She never knew the exact topic, but she knew that the key words "payment" and "debt" and "owe" and " _we need more time-!_ " was always, _always,_ incorporated somewhere into the conversation. Today was no different.

She shuffles her position on her bed quietly as everything grows eerily silent. For a second, she convinces herself that they're aware of her intruding.

Then the booming voice starts again, the sound of expensive heels pacing their creaking wooden floors with heavy feet aching her eardrums.

"Twelve fucking days, Janice! Twelve fucking days, god damnit! Clean your bitch up from the floor, those crocodile tears does nothing to me no more."

Janice is uncharacteristically pleading, "Please," She gasps, begs. "You don't _understand-!"_

"You two stupid bitches say this shit every month. What, is the job boss provided to you not paying you whores enough? Is that it?"

"We were _robbed_ last week—"

(She remember that night, she does. Ms. Mom had let in a man who couldn't understand English very well but spoke French like he was a native there. He had been here all night, yelling out harsh words in French as Ms. Mom sobbed and sobbed and _sobbed_ until the sound of metallic stopped hitting harshly against the walls. She doesn't know what happened after because she fell asleep, but by the time morning came, Ms. Mom was still sobbing and when she had attempted to ask what was wrong, Janice had hit her and told her to walk to school alone instead of waiting for Ms. Mom. She did so without a fuss and didn't bring it up again).

You see, Janice and Ms. Mom had an interesting job where they'd only have to work in the peak of the night. Ms. Mom would always wear these ridiculously tall heels and very, very short skirts that had a fluffy tail in the back. She'd cake herself with makeup and down three glasses of gin and tonic as she cried soundlessly in the bathroom, a half smoked cigarette dangling from her red stained lips.

Janice would be tidying up anything that needed to be done around the house in the meantime, including locking her door after she'd tuck her in for bedtime and would tuck the key underneath her pleather pants, past her underwear. Then she'd tell her no one in this world will ever hurt her, not while she's alive and well, then kiss her forehead with whiskey breath and smeared lip gloss and walk out without a final glance.

"Are you making excuses, bitch? Are you two sluts not grateful for the shit we've done for you? That boss has done for you?" The man is snarling with undeniable anger.

"We'll have the money, Charles! Just give us more—"

"Time?" Charles—the first time she's ever heard a proper name for the man—laughs bitterly. "We gave you rats a four day extension. And guess what your excuse is now? Your shit was stolen. Does that sound like my fucking problem? Have your shit out of here by tomorrow morning—"

"We'll have the money by tomorrow!" Ms. Mom chokes out pathetically.

There's a brief pause before Charles laughs again. "How? Neither one of you have any clients until next Wednesday because you two don't know how to stop fucking crying and just take it-"

"We'll have it," Ms. Mom sounds assured, confident. "How much was it again? Four hundred? Five?"

There's another pause, "Five grand, bitch." His words are hard.

"Right," Ms. Mom says shakily.

"And how do you expect to get that much over night? Hm? Because if it's not here by tomorrow, I'm blowing your brains out for wasting my time."

She resists the urge to get out of bed and ask Ms. Mom why this man is being so mean—why, _why_ he's acting so hostile towards them. But she can't—knows she can't, and settles with chewing on her thumb without breaking a nail. She doesn't understand, doesn't understand why Janice is so scared and why Ms. Mom is making promises she can't keep.

It was odd how Ms. Mom spoke the existence of five grand when they barely make that much in the spam of a couple months. Most of their income goes to Charles, she knows this much, listens intently on their conversations enough to know how much he takes and takes and _takes._

Money wasn't something they ever had a lot of. It was why she could never attend any school field trips, why they didn't have a car, why she could never eat out on her birthdays, or why she could never go to those cool amusement parks her classmates would tell her about. When she'd ask either of them, they'd always tell her they didn't have the money and maybe next time. Sometimes she'd get sad, frustrated about their situation and how she always stayed home, and Ms. Mom would take notice. She'd attempt to make it up to her by giving her animal crackers with vanilla frosting and sprinkles for dinner instead of ravioli with fruit snacks. She always preferred the animal crackers.

Then there's murmuring, low enough to where she can't hear.

A few seconds later, a booming laugh makes her jump with fright. "You stupid, slutty cunt! You bitches already sell yourselves enough! There's no way worn out old bitches like you two would ever raise five grand overnight! Be realistic!" His voice is getting louder and louder and now she's whimpering underneath her sheets.

Janice inhales shakily, "Charles, tomorrow afternoon. We'll have it then."

he doesn't ask how this time, instead he only threatens their lives with full intent of following through and now she's _shaking-_

She doesn't understand why they struggle so much, why-why Ms. Mom cries every night and why Janice sighs dismally at the beginning of every month, mail scattering the kitchen table as she massages her temples with a pen in her hand and a bottle of jack daniels half drunken, no chaser. Sometimes, she wonders how they have enough spare money to be able to buy things like alcohol and cigarettes, but then she stops thinking that way. Because those thoughts leads to questions and questions leads to her being hit. She doesn't like to be hit much.

She doesn't realize she's crying until Janice yanks the door open with so much force it slams against the wall, leaving a permanent mark. Her body is shaking _so hard_ and now Janice has her in her arms, rocking her back and forth as she coos impatiently. She relaxes in her hold, even when she feels Janice pinch her arm warningly.

"Please, please be quiet," She begs desperately. "He'll hear you-" Then there's footsteps, and Janice is heaving with panic and her eyes cloud over with fresh tears. "Fuck, _no-_ "

"Who the hell is this?" Charles's voice is curious, soft, predatorily.

She tries to calm down, really, she does, but the scary man is now standing in front of her door and Ms. Mom is desperately trying to usher him out and, and _it's not working and-_

"Charles," Ms. Mom starts with disgust, "She's nothing, she's—"

"Who.. is she?" He questions again, this time stalking closer. Janice holds her tighter, as if her skinny arms could protect her from the man.

She's never seen him before, and perhaps that was a good thing because seeing him now _scared_ her. He was at least 6'5 with the widest shoulders she's ever seen. He doesn't fit the theme of her room, no, instead he reeks of something dirty and the cigar in his mouth is upsetting her nostrils and now he's stepping closer and suddenly she can't _breathe—_

"Jesus fuck, Charles! She's a fucking child! She doesn't matter, she's-she's nothing!"

She blinks her tears away as Ms. Mom yells these things and wonders if she's always been a nothing. Always been a nuance to both her and Ms. Mom. That was how she had driven her father away, after all.

"What's her name?" Charles is now hovering over Janice, his dark, beady eyes glaring down at her as his thick, meaty fingers slowly rubs across Janice's shoulders with clear intent. She watches her shudder, tears brimming her eyes.

"Janice?" Her lower lip is trembling harshly and she refuses to meet the large man's gaze. "Janice, please-" She's gasping now as the man squeezes Janice's shoulder, as if a discreet warning.

"Move."

Ms. Mom is yelling, yelling the loudest she's ever heard her yell but she can't hear her because she's crying and the man is licking his lips in a way she doesn't like and- and.

Suddenly there's a loud sound-something violent and sharp. Charles is yelling now, cursing and hollering and threatening Ms. Mom and then the sound happens again and again and _again_ until there's a loud thump, harsh wails following shortly after.

"Yell at me one more time, you stupid bitch!" He's growling now, he's growling so loudly it hurts.

She whimpers in Janice's hold, her nails breaking the skin of her forearms but Janice doesn't seem to mind. No, instead, she sees the unshed tears in her eyes threatening to fall as she watches Ms. Mom get hit over and over and _over_ and does _nothing—_

"Please—" Ms. Mom tries again. "She's a _child,_ Charles! Fucking six years old, you sick fuck! What the hell can she _ever_ offer you?"

Then Charles is smiling, a creepy, lopsided smile that broadcasts his yellowing teeth in a negative light. "Quite the load," He's rubbing his thumb and pointer finger together repeatedly. "She's a pretty one—her bids will go high. Boss won't be pleased with you two keeping such a.." Then he's groaning airily, as if.. pleased.

"Such a _gem_ like her all lonesome. I assume she's ripe, correct? We could sell her for millions. You two would be surprised by how many sellers would pay for a such pure, young woman. However, we haven't had someone this young," He ponders. "But that's good. Means she's easily impressionable. Can't fight much either, so easily fuckable too. Won't be hard to get her accustomed to the rituals. Just need her to behave. She could've been trained by now had you two sluts told me about her, making us loads of cash—"

"Young woman? She's _six!"_ Ms. Mom is screaming, frustrated tears falling. "Charles, jesus fuck! I'll do anything, just—just keep her out of this! She's done _nothing—!"_

Charles is facing her now, ignoring Ms. Mom's sobs. She's crying harder now because she doesn't understand—doesn't understand what they're talking about and _why_ this man is hurting Ms. Mom and why he's trying to _touch_ her—

When he stalks back over, Janice screams so loud she feels her ears ring, her tears finally falling. "Charles—"

"Get out of my way, cunt," He effortlessly shoves Janice away towards the floor, his thin lips curving into a scowl. "Next time I hear jack shit from you two," He raises his collared shirt, showing a black handgun resting comfortably in his trousers, his pot belly forcing it to drape over his belt. "I'm killin' you both—shootin' you right in the throat. Hear me?" He kicks against Janice's shivering body, and she whimpers helplessly.

Sometimes, she wishes she were never born—because maybe then Ms. Mom and Janice wouldn't struggle so much, maybe then they wouldn't have to worry about the gas bill being too high or a non-grateful child like her never appreciating the food they give her. Maybe then, her dad would still be here, at home, helping Janice take care of Ms. Mom. Maybe, maybe.

The tears don't stop cascading down her cheeks as the man takes a seat next to her, his weight forcing her bed to grunt and sag slightly. She doesn't see him or his predatory smile—the tears blinding her vision stopping her from doing so.

"Hi, little one."

His voice was soft with a condescending lilt to it, a fake chuckle echoing out of his throat once he receives no reply.

She hears shuffling from nearby, and suddenly she's yanked up aggressively onto his lap, his burly arms wrapping around her almost possessively. She didn't hear herself crying out in fear, reaching out blindly for Ms. Mom or Janice or _anyone_ who wasn't him.

"I said," He repeated with the same lilt, "Hi. Didn't your dumbass caregivers teach you any manners? You're supposed to make your elders feel welcomed once they set foot into your home. Now tell me darling, what's your name?"

She's shaking, she's shaking so hard anything that fell out of his lips landed on nothing but deaf ears. Ms. Mom and Janice remained on the floor, unmoving. She doesn't think they're going to try and save her anymore. She doesn't think she blames them.

She feels a hard pinch on her leg, the skin there being twisted painfully as she cries out another time. The man hums in satisfaction before letting go, soothing the bruising skin there. She tries to kick against his touch, but his hold on her had made it seem impossible.

"'M scared," She whimpered. "Please, n-no,"

"No, what?" He taunted.

"'M sorry, I'm-" She hiccups, nearly choking on her own whines. "Please let me go-please- _please,"_

He's chuckling against her, his intrusive hand still massaging her thigh. "What an obedient one you are," He praised affectionately. His hand moves to her other leg, giving himself permission to massage that one, too. "Not physical. You barely even squirm. You just shake and whimper like a little bitch. That's good. That's.." He sighs in relief. "You won't be hard to train. That's good. I'm proud."

"Sir, please, let me go," She's struggling in his hold, her thin arms trying, _trying_ to push this man away but he just won't move—

He hits her harshly against the side of her head with one of his large hands, a grunt of disapproval emitting from his throat. "Push against me again you stupid bitch and I swear I'll make you choke on my dick right in front of your fuckin' guardians. Tell me, you ever sucked on a thick cock before?" He's laughing now, tauntingly.

Her head is throbbing painfully as she looks around the spinning room, wanting to reach out and try to plead for Ms. Mom and Janice just one more time, to see if Janice would keep her promise and protect her. She had never felt this scared—this, this.. _terrified_ of another human being before. So she tries, she raises her trembling hands slightly, the words on the tip of her tongue, yet nothing seemed to come out. Charles grabs ahold of her small fists, unraveling them before he traces the veins beneath her skin. She feels herself giving up.

"You're malnourished, child. Surviving off of nothing but ravioli and the dog food they serve you at school. You couldn't have thought could fight off someone for this long, hm? Truly, you're an easy target—an easy fuck. We'll earn loads off you. Yes, yes," He hums thoughtfully. "Perhaps I should be the first to.. try you out?"

She's thrashing again with choked sobs coming from her lips as the man gently grabs a hold of her throat, caressing it with rough fingers. "I don't like it! S-stop, sir, _please—!"_

"Baby-" Janice moves only slightly from the floor before she began whimpering in pain again, clutching her stomach.

"Baby girl," Janice says, rubbing the large, red mark imprinted on the side of her face. "It's going to be okay, alright? Just-" Janice is crying now, and she wants her to stop crying. Because it's not her fault this mean man is like this. It's not her fault that she can't help her. "Just be a good girl for me and stay still, okay?"

She likes being a good girl. She wants to be a good girl for Janice and Ms. Mom, but her skin felt like it was being prickled by needles and she _didn't like it—_

"Listen to that slut, alright? I don't like bratty kids who I have to keep repeating myself to."

"Sir, I don't understand. I don't-"

There's a ringing sound that interrupts her plead. It's loud and abrupt, and Charles reaches for it with a low grumble that erupts in his chest. He pushes her off of him a bit harder than necessary, his throat clearing as he answers the call almost immediately. "Boss," He muses in genuine surprise. "You never call."

She wasn't aware of who boss was, but she heard the word enough from Janice and Ms. Mom to know that he was someone of importance; perhaps the most important of all.

There's a brief pause before Charles is humming disdainfully. "I'll be there as soon as I can—but, I have a.. gift for you, sir." He pauses again, his tongue running through his teeth as he shoves his free hand into his pocket, his dark eyes roaming over her as if she were some trophy.

"Turns out Janice and the janitor's baby mama has a kid," He's laughing now. "Can you believe that? And they never told me shit about it. Even tried hiding the little bitch. She's a beauty, though. I think you'd like her, boss." His final sentence sounds more like an open suggestion. She tries to shield herself with her quilt as Ms. Mom begins to sob again. She wants to go over and hug her, but she feels stuck. Feels icky and gross. She just wants Charles to leave and to never see him again. That's all. That's all she wants.

"Quite a beauty, sir. I'm damn near positive she's pure. She's tiny and frail, too, so won't resist much. But I'm sure the costumers who get off to fighting women might be a bit disappointed. Regardless, we could potentially earn millions off of her. You'd love her. Perhaps more than I do—"

"Sick fuck!" Janice is murmuring. "Fuck both of you for even considering- _oof_ —" Janice gasps as if the air had been knocked out of her. The harsh blows Charles was giving to her stomach repeatedly seemed like they'd never end.

"Say one more smart ass remark and I fuck that little girl until she's puking up my sperm." His words are uncharacteristically gentle. But he sounds assured and confident, and that alone gets Janice to succumb to his silence.

Then he's talking back on the phone as if he were never interrupted. "They'll come in tomorrow for you, boss. You'll love her. I know you will."

When he leaves, Ms. Mom and Janice walks out of the room right after him, leaving her quivering, begging figure to repair herself. So that's exactly what she does. She doesn't mind; she's used to it.

* * *

She misses school the next day. Instead, Ms. Mom and Janice puts her on the white, poofy dress she only wears for special occasions. Her hair has a bow on it, too: big and white and delicate. This time, though, they leave her white stockings in her dresser and settles with putting her on the silky white socks that fold nicely with some lace on the ends and her Mary Janes. She has glitter on the side of her left eye, too. When she asks Ms. Mom why, she tells her that her new friend likes all of his lady friends with glitter on their left eye. She doesn't question it further because Ms. Mom has an ugly bruise on her lip and she winces every time she talks. So she settles with staring at her reflection from one of the mirrors. She looks pretty, but she's scared.

She knows why they're dressing her up like this. Knows why Ms. Mom has on her signature leather dress and those really tall pumps. She knows why Janice has a pouch full of something she can't look into. She knows.

And she doesn't stop crying the whole morning because of it. Ms. Mom doesn't try to soothe her, and Janice doesn't yell at her for making too much noise. Instead, they proceed with making themselves look as best as possible. Janice walks with a faint limp, her hands clutching her stomach as she stops to catch her breath every once in a while. She pretends she doesn't notice.

When they're finished, Ms. Mom downs two shots of tequila and squirts a lime in her mouth all whilst holding a fresh cigarette in her free hand, wincing. Janice watches her with unfocused eyes. She waits patiently by the door as Ms. Mom pours herself a third shot.

"Jesus, you're going to get yourself drunk," Janice had chastised, her expression grim.

Ms. Mom doesn't reply. Instead, she takes an uncomfortably long drag from her cigarette and latches onto her purse, grumbling incoherences underneath her breath. She reeks of alcohol and cigarettes before they even make it out the door. She says nothing.

She's a good girl, and if she's on her best behavior, maybe then she'd have animal crackers for dinner instead of the ravioli.

.

They ride the bus for a really long time.

She isn't familiar with the location or this side of town in general. The houses are bigger, the grass looks greener, but more synthetic, and there's a lot of expensive shopping brands over here, too. It makes her feel out of place and so, _so_ small, especially with the way the people on the bus is looking at them.

They got off at a stop where the neighborhood is still; the silent engines of the expensive, electric cars and the snapping sound of Ms. Mom's heels the only nearby sounds provided. Janice kept a firm hand on her shoulder the entire time and Ms. Mom lit another cigarette, sniffling.

They keep walking until they hit a steep road that she could've easily missed if she weren't paying attention. There was a nice house on the corner that looked as if it belonged in one of those house modeling catalogues Mrs. Kagman likes to look at for decorative ideas. There's a long, long brick mahogany road with an eloquent water fountain in the center. The house is surrounded by large black gates and several code machines that seemed impossibly complicated to solve. Before they even make it to the gate, however, they're stopped.

"Evening, Misses," A tall man says, taller than Charles, with his hands behind his back and a pristine aura to him. His suit is poised and black with a crimson velveteen fabric in his breast pocket, positioned almost perfectly. She takes a step back into Janice's hold as the man stares at her almost quizzically.

He's silent for a few seconds before his eyes turn sorrow. "I assume you both are here to meet with Gevolli?" He's gesturing them to the gate before he hears an answer. "I have not seen you two in months."

Janice laughs dryly. "You know damn well that's a good thing, Teddie. The less we're here, the less we deal with this dreadful place."

Teddie, she thinks, does every single pass code they pass with a type of swiftness she's amazed at. "In your circumstance, sure. However, in mine, it is my duty to remain here."

"How's Andreas?" Ms. Mom says roughly, changing the subject.

Teddie hums, "He misses his mother. He misses Italy."

"So the usual," Janice remarks with a scoff. "I hope to hell that kid grows up with not even half the devilish amount his father has."

Teddie doesn't reply. Instead, he opens the last gate and suddenly there's men in tuxedo's everywhere. Behind the gate, there wasn't much to see inside of the home besides the copious evergreens surrounding it and the elegant, opaque glass windows that seemed to be scattered almost everywhere on the mansion.

Being inside, physically, however, she could sense the alertness everywhere. She could also take note of the way Teddie walked: diagonal, never straight, and Ms. Mom and Janice followed his lead with her at their side as if they knew the path like the back of their hand. Some sections they avoided altogether.

(Later she found out that they had installed some traps for something that night. Janice never told her just what it was for).

Janice and Ms. Mom said hello to those they hadn't seen in a while with detached smiles, shielding her behind them every single time. She wondered why.

When Teddie had finally escorted them to wherever this was—underground or something—he promised to see Ms. Mom and Janice again soon. Then he landed a gentle hand on her shoulder, squatting down. His warm eyes watched her with pity. "Tell him.." Teddie licked his lips slowly, as if in an internal dilemma. "Tell him the truth. No matter what." Then he left just a second later, like a thief in the night. She's confused by his words.

The double doors are finally being opened and she feels her stomach churn uncomfortably at the sight of the man in front of her. He looks like Charles, almost, but shorter and thinner. He has on a tuxedo, nice and polished and tan, with a matching beret perched high on his bald head. His cigar was nearly gone and he smelled of fresh tobacco and pine cones.

He eyes Janice and Ms. Mom with little interest before his eyes rest on her, his head tilting to the side as he stared blankly. It stays silent for several seconds before he's humming, gesturing them to follow him.

The office was dark. That's really all she could truly recall.

The fresh smell of wood hit her like a ton of bricks the second she stepped foot inside, Janice immediately grabbing ahold of her waist and placing her down on her lap as they sat opposite to the man, her arms wrapped around her. She leaned into her touch, and finally, Janice allowed her to.

"The girl." Is all he says.

Ms. Mom shuffles uneasily. "She's who Charles was addressing, yes."

"I could've protected her, you know," The man is saying without looking up. He's shuffling papers around, a pistol sitting pretty at the corner of his desk. She tries hard to not stare at him for too long. "You decide to keep secrets from me? After everything I've down for you two." He tsks.

"Gevolli, we have the money—"

"Good. That means you're only a month behind my payment now. How do you intend on paying that one off, hm?" His voice is soothingly rough.

Janice swallows. "We're _trying,"_

The room is silent.

Gevolli leans back into his expensive looking seat, crushing his cigar in a golden ash tray without taking his eyes off of her. "You've been saying that for the pass three years, darling. I'm gonna need a little bit.. more."

Ms. Mom inhaled, "we'll take more clients. We'll—"

"Three fourths of your clients complains to me of your whininess and complete disregard to their kinks. I told you two when you started. I don't give a fuck if their kink is sucking off dog ballsacks. They're paying me thousands upon thousands to interact with the best, most sensual men and women in the west coast. So what do you think they expect?"

"Someone who acknowledges their kinks." Janice says.

"I mean, that's what they're paying for, right? That's what I'm paying you for, right? So why do you two think you're behind?"

"Because we don't fulfill our jobs like we're supposed to."

Gevolli nods mutely. "I should fire you two scum worthy sluts right this second. I should take that child and teach her to make me millions just by spreading her legs for a few wealthy men and women who can't get anyone to willingly spread their legs for them if money weren't involved," He leans back. "But I won't. Poor Charles will be disappointed." He laughs at that.

He stares down at her now, "Tell me, child, how's your home life?"

She thinks back to what Teddie had told her, and finally, she isn't confused by his words anymore. "I-" Her voice cracks. "I'm taken care of,"

"Well?"

"As best as Ms. Mom and Janice can do." She replies timidly, fidgeting with her dress.

Gevolli hums with his chest. "Ms. Mom, huh?" He laughs. "Pathetic."

From the corner of her eye, she watches Ms. Mom squirm underneath his gaze.

"Why do you call her that?"

"She says I can't call her mom until I turn ten," She says easily. "Says that's what her mom did to her, too. That she's Ms.; not my friend. Not my confidant."

Gevolli laughs again. "You're cute. You'd make me millions, you know that?"

He's shuffling more papers. "This is what I'm going to do," He leans on his desk as he inhales. "The child stays with you. However, I want weekly checkups. I told you two I take care of my people as long as they do their fucking job. And you two," He cackles. "You two don't ever do your damn job correctly. But that girl has done nothing to me. She never asked to be on this Earth. So for that, I'll excuse her for the nuance both you two and Charles have put her through. You two should be ashamed of yourselves."

"I want my money by next week. If not, your clientele options will be decreased once again. If that happens, the child stays with me and I'm kicking you two to the curb. However, that outcome will only happen if I'm feeling nice, so in other words, the likeliness is slim. So I suggest you two whores get to pleasing. You don't want to hear my alternatives, I assure you. Next _week_ , Janice. Not next month."

"Yes sir," Janice says.

Gevolli turns his attention back to her. "Tell me child, what's your name?"

She fidgets timidly. "Charlotte," She says.

"Hm," He says with an airy tone, his expression turning unreadable. "Such a beautiful name for a," His thumb strokes his chin slowly. "Beautiful, beautiful girl."

She fidgets some more. "My daddy named me."

Gevolli grins. "Your daddy also cleans the toilet I shit on every night. That man has a lot of debt he owes me, you know."

Ms. Mom shakes her head. "She's too young to know about any of that now, Gevolli. N-not now. I beg of you."

He ignores her. "Tell you what Charlotte, how 'bout you meet my boy? He'll love you."

"Boy?"

Gevolli nods. "We're friends now, right? I see the glitter by your eye; you honored my requirement and I applaud you for that. We're gonna have fun today, you and I, but I just know you'll love my son."

Charlotte looks to Ms. Mom for permission, her gaze wild with excitement. But once she takes notice of Ms. Mom's frightened eyes, her eyebrows furrow with confusion. "Ms. Mom, can I go?"

She doesn't answer quickly. In fact, she hiccups instead, aggressively so. Her makeup begins running and the cigarette in her hand is long forgotten. She's sobbing. "I'm sorry for putting you in this mess, Char. I'm so, so sorry baby."

The words repeat out of her mouth several times and Janice rubs her back soothingly, but still sat stiff.

"Feel grateful I'm not using her for those pigs out there," Gevolli motions to the door. "Lord knows Charles would probably kill for that."

"But you use other children for that, Gevolli! This is.. its wrong and you _know_ it—!"

His hand automatically reaches for his pistol. Janice tenses. He glares down at Ms. Mom with dark eyes, "Starving your child is wrong. Emotional neglect is wrong. Your damn style of parenting is stupid and fucking wrong! Don't get prissy with me, bitch!"

Ms. Mom swallows.

"Now," He says calmly, staring down Charlotte with a taunting smile as he stood. "Let's go meet Andreas, shall we?"


	12. Chapter Eleven

Another update will be coming very soon! Thank you for the reviews!

* * *

chapter eleven / Jasper

Jasper had a solid idea on two things: one, he hadn't gotten into any of the colleges he applied to and two, he was positive Andreas had told Henry about their discussion a couple of months ago.

To be fair, he didn't even _want_ to attend college. It was just his mom had this creepy obsession with him attending some sort of Ivy League university while majoring in _Law_ and then snagging some fancy job and ending up with a post-tax six figures income annually.

And it could've worked out for him, really, if he hadn't failed his intermediate business law class last year. He couldn't even remember his 27 amendments—the most basic requirement there is in regards to law. So he applied to the unrealistic colleges (MIT, Berkeley, _Yale_ ), that he knew he'd never get accepted into just to show his mom he at least tried. And he did, really, the applying process alone took literal months. How Charlotte even finished all of hers and got accepted into all of her top choices was beyond his level of basic understanding.

And with Henry, the reason why he had gotten so irritatingly clingy was because Andreas couldn't keep his stupid mouth shut. He wasn't sure when he told Henry their conversation exactly, but he was positive it was the day before Henry had practically ordered he'd stay over his house for the next couple of weeks, just to check up on him and ' _rekindle their bond.'_

It was an excuse—he figured—to just give him some time to figure out a way on how he was going to ask his friend on why he had asked Andreas, of all people, for a weapon; for what _purpose?_

And honestly, Jasper was relieved it was taking Henry this long to muster the courage to actually ask him, because he was still trying to figure out how he was going to explain it to him. He didn't have to, even if Henry had begged him to tell him why, he knew he didn't have to tell him if he truly didn't want to. But—there was no use in keeping the reason to himself. Henry'd find out eventually somehow, he's sure of it.

Speaking of, Jasper shouldn't have been surprised to see him laying face down on the couch as soon as he opened his door, the living room's quilt decorated comfortably on his lower half. Henry's bubblegum bottle was loose in his right hand's hold, but Jasper could see his fingers clenched almost protectively around it.

"Jasper," Henry welcomed him grimly once he fully stepped inside, shutting the door with a soft click. Jasper's eyes travelled slowly across his living room, noticing the half-eaten bowl of popcorn sitting precariously on the edge of the nightstand near the couch. The kitchen seemed a bit disoriented from his peripheral vision, a couple of popcorn packets were scattered carelessly across the dining table, small packets of sugar resting near them, empty bottles of crinkled water bottles were tossed sightlessly across the kitchen, so many Jasper began to worry if he even had any left.

His eyes travelled across Henry's stiff frame solemnly, an eyebrow raised. "Henry," Jasper drawled, "What.. the fuck?"

Henry waved him off dismissively. "I'll clean it up later. You want to know what happened today?" He muffled through some pillows, his free hand making exaggerated movements to solidify his words. "Fucking guess, dude. You'll never believe it."

Jasper sighed, scooping up the empty sugar packets and tossing them into the trash. "You had to leave early from class, right? For a Kid Danger mission—"

"Yeah, yeah. Now guess what happened to me," He still made no movements to alter his position so Jasper could hear him better.

"You.." Jasper gathered the popcorn packets, walking towards the pantry. "Found a new rival I hope? You previous ones have been pretty questionable, might I add. I mean, you need a real challenge—" He places the packets back inside their appropriate box, moving to collect the empty water bottles. "—I'm assuming you won though, right? You're still in one piece. Or are you? Your legs don't look as long as they usually do from this angle.."

"Fuck you, no, that's not it." Henry sighed impatiently, moving to sit up as he watched Jasper place the water bottles into a brown bag used for recycling purposes. "There was no bad guy. There was no one to protect from anything, dude. I mean, since when do we get false alarms like that? Never. I feel like I'm being fucked with, you know?" He slumped back into the pillow, raising a hand to dig into the popcorn bowl. He kept it there.

Jasper shuffled to pick up more empty bottles. "That's why you trashed my kitchen? You adolescent men disgust me."

"Take me seriously," It almost sounded like a whine, the way he muffled obnoxiously into the pillow. "I don't know what to fucking do, Jas. I mean, a false alarm, really? Ray and I haven't been going out and solving as much crime as we used to and I don't understand why. In fact, the crime rates have stayed consistent throughout our senior year so far; especially in the downtown locations. I just don't get it—"

"Henry," Jasper leaned against the kitchen counter, his fingers tapping against the marble countertops steadily. "Something like that was bound to happen sooner or later, you do know that, right?"

He finally shifted upright, though in only the smallest of movement. He faced Jasper whilst maintaining eye contact with the watch on his wrist. He frowned at it almost slightly. "Do you think that.. maybe we were just too late? I mean I had to take a bit longer because I had to leave from school but—maybe if Ray had left without waiting on me then we could've possibly seen if something really _did_ happen. It just makes no sense—it's never happened before, Jas. Maybe I'm just starting to lack again.."

His ramblings proceeded, and suddenly Jasper realized he wasn't talking to him, but mostly to himself about his failures. Henry stared down at his watch more than he stared Jasper in the eye, his left leg bouncing nervously as he continued to double, triple, octuple check on his possible wrong doings when in reality, it truly could've been nothing.

Sure, the demands for them weren't as high as usual, but everyone knew why—Gevolli was back in town for good and their sites were set on him and his empire. He's always been a threat to both the good and the bad. He was somewhere stuck between—just far more devious and calculating than Jasper could even attempt to comprehend—he wasn't known for just nothing.

He realized, maybe Henry wasn't worried about the call. Maybe it was something else.

"Is this overthinking because you still haven't decided on if you were going to college or not?" Jasper asked, quite boldly, cocking his hip to rest against the counter as he crossed his arms. "I know you don't like to talk about it much but—"

He remained silent as Henry grumbled incoherences under his breath. It didn't take long before Jasper realized he was mimicking him. He ignored it for the most part; he knew Henry was going through a tough time right now, especially with the constant pull and tug of the different possibilities of his future. He knew Ray was going to sit down with him at some point this week and talk to him about his internal dilemma with going to his top choice college and staying in Swellview to continue being the title—the hero he's been for years now. Jasper couldn't even begin to understand the stress wracking through him day and night.

Either way, Gevolli and Andreas was still here—there was no way Henry was going to sleep peacefully at night knowing they were just a few blocks down, the intentions behind their calculated moves always remaining a mystery.

"I don't need any kind of reassurance," Henry huffed, his eyes preparing to roll into the back of his head. "In fact, I'm _fine_. The next call I get I'm catching whoever's trying to fuck with me."

"It might not even be the same person-"

The jarring, obnoxious familiar ringtone of his phone snapped Jasper's mouth shut, and he scrambled over to get it once it reached its fourth ring. "Hey, Char," Jasper greeted warmly, ignoring the way Henry recoiled back into his moping limp of a mess on his couch. "What's up?"

He heard her muffle a noise of acknowledgement before saying, "Busy?"

Jasper shrugged with one shoulder, "I'm at home. Probably heading out in a few hours, though." Jasper couldn't tell her his plans on going to the man cave later on tonight, not yet at least. Hopefully once they get there, Ray could talk some sense into Henry and get him to understand that not everything works out the way he wants them to all of the time.

"Hm," She made a noncommittal noise before shuffling was heard through the speaker. "I just left the school. Sidney and Oliver's project I was helping them with for months was scored decent enough for them to pass the class with flying colors. I just finished the Art Association's last meeting, so that's officially done for the remaining of the year and I don't really feel like studying for finals alone-"

Jasper panicked, sensing the direction she was headed. "Uh. Um, hm! Yeah I c-can't—" He twitched uncomfortably at his unintelligible reply. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in a room with Henry _and_ Charlotte. _Together_. They were too stubborn for their own good—their still ongoing feud offering just enough tension to assure Jasper that _no_ , he does _not_ want to be caught in the middle of their adolescent drama. For the millionth time.

"Thought you were free?" Charlotte pushed, her tone light.

"Free, as in I plan on sulking in my bedroom playing overwatch-"

"You loaned your game to me, Jasper-"

"And maybe even hit up the gym for an hour or two-"

"You can't do a solid push-up to save your life-"

"And maybe even visit my dead grandmas grave. Things like that are very, very personal, you know."

He heard Charlotte sigh, a soft laugh coming from the speaker as he shuffled closer to the couch, nudging Henry's legs off for him to sit. "Just say you don't feel like hanging today, Jas. I don't mind."

"It's not that," Jasper said, because it wasn't. It was just the feeling—no, the idea of both of his best friends being alone with him didn't suit well with him, especially since the last time the three ended up alone together just a couple weeks ago, the constant bickering and directly indirect jabs were almost in every damn sentence they spoke. Sometimes, Jasper really _did_ just want to study. (Shocking, yes, he knows).

"It's just.." He fidgeted. "Henry's here and.."

"Oh," All noise on her end stopped abruptly.

"Yeah."

There was temporary silence from the both of them, "I don't mind. After all, it's just studying." The suggestion sounded innocent enough, but, so did the rest of them.

"Henry's here," Jasper emphasized, "Sulking. On my couch, in no way whatsoever desiring to study."

"Well he can watch, can't he?"

Jasper groaned, "God, Char. You never give up."

"I want to hang out with you, is all. We haven't officially ever since he claimed your couch as his. I can't keep prolonging our study time just because Henry is being clingy." Charlotte said, a hint of annoyance on the tip of her tongue. Jasper decided to not comment on it.

Jasper stared at Henry's unamused expression. "Sure, whatever, come over."

"No," Henry sat up, the quilt falling into a limp pile on the floor. _"No."_

Jasper ignored him, "And bring a case of water bottles, please, I'm all out."

"Sure, sure. Bye." He heard the clicking sound and dropped his phone near his thigh, limp.

"So," Jasper sighed out. "Should I mentally prepare myself for you and Char's remarks or do you think I can rest easy for once?"

He watched Henry stare at him with slitted eyes before murmuring underneath his breath—most likely insults. "How about I go upstairs and you stay down here with Charlotte-"

"Stop being ridiculous-"

 _"'Stop being ridiculous,'"_

"Henry-"

 _"'Henry-'"_

"Look, I want you guys to make up." Jasper watched as Henry's eyes widened only slightly before he made any sort of eye contact, fidgeting uncomfortably on the couch as he adjusted the quilt. He opened his mouth to speak, and judging by his expression, it wasn't going to be anything optimistic. "I'm not asking you to try and be friends with her or anything like that, Henry. So don't worry. I just, I can't keep being in between you two. I should be able to freely talk to you both while we're all in the same room without feeling awkward or uncomfortable. Besides, we're growing up. And if you two don't make up now, you guys probably ever won't. Charlotte's leaving, Hen."

He watched him flinch, "Yes, Dr. Phil I know. I am very much aware of my lack in healthy, communicating relationships. I really, really don't need to be reminded of it."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Not the point, bird brain. As mad as I was-still am, about what happened between you guys, I know the last thing either of you want is to separate on awkward terms," He rubbed his clammy hands along his jeans, sighing softly. "Before we separate. I just-just one last regular hangout before life begins to move so fast we won't even realize we're graduating then heading off into our own individual paths."

"Inspiring."

"I swear to god, hen-"

"I'll try. For my sake and yours." Jasper eyed him skeptically, but he looked serious this time, peering up at him with a self-assured grin. Jasper begins to wonder when Henry got so good at faking his smiles; it was always something he could easily point out and still can, but this time he almost, almost believed him.

There's a firm knock on the door before the doorbell rings a solid five times consecutively, the sounds forcing them out of their internal thoughts. Jasper stands, a bit uneasy, and focuses his attention on Henry, eyeing him with as much intimidation he could muster, walking towards the door and opening it, before turning right back around and giving Charlotte a half-hearted greeting.

"It smells like self-deprecation and adolescent males in here." Is Charlotte's greeting, her book bag resting easily on her shoulder and a pair of car keys in her hand. Jasper couldn't help his raised eyebrow.

"Um, I'm the only one here with a license. Let alone a permit..."

Jasper notices the way Charlotte purposely avoids looking in his— _Henry's_ —direction altogether, busying herself at the dining room table as she sorts out her belongings. "It's called skill, Jas. I know how to drive-"

"In what world-"

"It's just the process of getting a license is tedious. Who has that kind of time?"

"Every living, non-law breaking adult. You should take notes. Who's car is that anyway?"

Jasper watched as she perked up noticeably. "My mom's. She came home yesterday evening, she's been asking about you,"

Jasper scoffed. "Your mom thinks I'm a bad influence and believes my future job will be a hall monitor at some middle school in New Jersey. I doubt she asked anything good."

Charlotte shuffled. "Actually, she invited you over for dinner Friday night. And you too, Henry. She said it's her farewell to you both since she knows I'm leaving for college and, well, she's never home to begin with, so.."

The pause after her suggestion is long. Not necessarily awkward, per se, but Charlotte's mom was the type of person an average person could only tolerate for ten solid minutes before making up some lousy excuse of dismissal.

Jasper looked to Henry, watching his bulging eyes increase in size after the words registered in his brain. "Um," Jasper murmured tentatively.

Charlotte looked uneasy, her hands beginning to fidget anxiously as she studies the expressions on their faces, which seemed to concede their instinctive reactions. "You guys don't have to come if you don't want-"

"No, no, we'll be there. If.. your mom wants to see us again, I have no problem going."

Shockingly, the words coming from Henry, all soft and caring and very obviously catching onto her disappointment. Jasper says nothing, however, and just nods. It seems to be enough for Charlotte because she nods back, clearing her throat and forcing a smiling. "Okay," She says.

"Okay," Henry mumbled back, his eyes connected with the wall behind her.

The studying session isn't what bothered Jasper; in fact, it had went completely fine (except, _except_ for Henry's much too excessive staring towards Charlotte direction and Charlotte's blatant attempts to stare anywhere but in his direction in return). They had gotten a lot done and Jasper even felt a little more confident about his calculus final that was coming up in a week.

It was just.. it was just when his mom walked in (yes, yes he does have parents), is when it got awkward. In fact, it had gotten so obviously uncomfortable that even Jasper himself felt the secondhand embarrassment.

It went a little like this:

His mom had walked in, purse and car keys in hand as she mindlessly sung a tune of a song Jasper couldn't recognize very well, her attention on the slight (albeit messy) disarray in the living room. "Jas?" She called, never taking her eyes off the living room. Her keys were in mid air, a slight tremble to her voice.

Immediately, Jasper shoot up, his attention fully on fixing the mess Henry had made. "Sorry," He called, stuttering a bit. "I didn't know you'd be home so soon-"

"It's fine, love, just.. I need the house like I had it, yeah? Make sure you clean it correctly."

Then she turned towards his friends, blonde eyebrows raised as her red stained lips curved into a smile that resembled Jasper's. "Henry, glad to see my second son back home," She laughed— a pretty little noise—then set her keys down. "And Charlotte, pleasure seeing you again, dear. How's the college decision making going? Jasper's dream choice is Berkeley, you know."

Charlotte nodded, her eyes dancing with mischief. "Really?"

"Char, I swear to fucking god-"

"Jasper!"

"Sorry, sorry,"

His mom disregarded his apology, and instead walked towards the dining table, her heels clicking and clacking softly as she waddled over with darting eyes watching Jasper tidy the living room. "Anyway," She smoothed her dress, satin gloves covering her dainty hands. "Yes, really. I'm quite proud of him, you know. All those years of rebellion and strings of early grays have to pay off somehow, right?" She laughed again, missing the way Jasper's frantic eyes bore into his friends.

"You better fucking play along," He mouthed to them both, an accusing finger directed at them as he folded the quilt diagonally, never square.

"Ah, yes," Henry replied, his voice a touch higher. "Ever the genius, almighty Jasper is."

"What if he went to community?" Charlotte asked abruptly, her voice calm.

"Community college is for the less fortunate, Charlotte dear. I will not tolerate any child of mine sinking so low to attend some.. poor excuse of an education. Besides, Jasper is confident he'll be accepted into Berkeley and perhaps even MIT. Yale is a stretch, however if luck lands in our favor, I wouldn't doubt he'd be accepted."

"Play along," He mouthed again, glaring at a gawking Charlotte.

"Right," Henry said, speaking for them both.

"He's confident he'll ace all of his finals," She cleared her throat, her eyes scanning the paperwork her son was reviewing just before she walked in with silent approval. "He's studying, too, I see. With Charlotte helping him out, I will never doubt his ability to do good," Then she paused, bright eyes staring down a fidgeting Henry. "And you, Henry dear? Where will you go?"

Jasper watched Henry's eyes land briefly on the wall, then Charlotte's gaze, then his mother before settling on the pencil in his hands. "Not sure yet." He admitted.

"Hm.." She didn't look convinced at all, in fact, she seemed to have known his destiny of his imminent future before he did. "Is that what you're telling yourself or is that what you truly believe? Don't lie to me, now. I think we all know the truth here."

The silence carried on for several seconds, Jasper watching his eyes dancing frantically across the room as his face began to turn red from embarrassment. "I-" He started, licking his lips shyly. "I don't know, I-"

His mother sat back in her seat, arms folded crisply. "Mm," She murmured faintly, not a hint of surprise in her tone. "I hear the community is still accepting applications, Henry dear. Maybe I'll speak with your mother about it sometime this week."

The silence felt impalpable, no one moving a muscle, as if shocked from hearing her words. Truth be told, Jasper _was_.

"You know," Charlotte cut through, her tone pleasant and light, respectful to her seniors as always. "Henry has always been one of the smartest people I've known. There may be a couple of questionable things he's done in his lifetime, and I can name a lot, but him applying for the colleges he plans on going to and getting into his top two choices is amazing."

"Um," Jasper said, an eyebrow perched. "I agree?"

His mother hummed distantly, her ruby lips curving into a mocking edge. "I've always admired friendship," She replied with instead, her tone settling into something warm and sweet. "Makes you forget the flaws of others. Luckily for me, however, I rarely have friends." She laughed.

Henry blinked. "But you've fallen in love,"

When she stares at him almost quizzically, Jasper watched him fumble with her fingers for a few seconds before elaborating. "Jasper's dad—you've, you married him for almost twenty years. Surely you had to have been blinded by his flaws too, right?"

She hums, a damn near whisper. "Sure," She said. "If you want to call it that. I'll be upstairs." Then she left, blonde curls twirling behind her as she dismissed herself.

And yeah, Jasper knows his mom is a bit egotistical, refuses to acknowledge any of Jasper's many flaws, hates anything in the house not like she had it, and absolutely hates her son not being the best at everything like Charlotte is. And yeah, when she finds out that he himself might be attending community college she might throw a fit, maybe even kick him out, but Jasper has known these things already; what he didn't expect was for her to attack _Henry_.

Henry, who had actually gotten accepted into  
good colleges, and actually has _choices_.

And maybe it was just his mom trying to convince herself more than others that Jasper could actually get into such top schools, but either way, he knows deep down she knew the truth, she knows school was never much of a top priority for him.

Instead of addressing it, Henry moves on, going back to flicking the pages in his textbook as he fumbles with the pencil in his hand, his eyes reading over small fonted words with a squint. Because it's Jasper's mom they're talking about, and one thing Henry would never do is disrespect her.

"I'm sorry about that," Jasper decides to say, swallowing spit as he watches him wave a hand of dismissal. "Henry, no, I really am—"

"Dude," Henry's— _laughing_. "It's fine. Trust me, it's cool, really." Henry blinked, a lopsided grin playing on his face for several seconds before he's back to flipping pages, tapping his pencil thoughtfully against the table.

Jasper's never really been good at this kind of thing—providing comfort—but he tries. But it does get tiring sometimes; having to think of reassuring words to say and hopes no one misinterprets his words. It's stressful, to say the least, so when Charlotte steps up and does the job for him, he's relieved.

"Wherever you decide to go, I think you'll do great." She offered, tapping her pen against her notebook. Light scribblings on the edges of the paper tells Jasper she was never truly devoted to studying at the moment.

Henry blinked, pursed his lips, then blinked again, "I could say the same for you. You're amazing. Probably going to find the cure for hair loss and get paid millions. Everyone's going to love you."

"I could say the same for you," Charlotte complimented, looking shy. "Don't listen to anything negative anyone has to say, alright? You're smart and you've gotten the acceptance letters you dreamed of. Focus on that, Henry."

They continue their immeasurable topic filled with compliments and encouraging words and yes, maybe the mention of the words 'I've missed this' here and there, and Jasper watches with a mind full of relief. Just a couple hours ago, he was worried about them seeing each other again, thinking they'd chew each other's head off if they could, and now they looked fine; engaging in light conversation and finally, finally being able to look each other in the eye—even if it's just a couple of seconds.

He's thought about this: his plan on how he was going to make them kiss and makeup before graduation, but it seemed that maybe they didn't need his help—not too drastically, at least.

He hears Charlotte laughing at something—just a small chuckle, and Henry stares, starry eyed.

It's a mere simple thing; a small little step in the right direction for them all as a unit. It's enough, for now, for Jasper to view it as something worthy of being relieved about; last week it seemed they'd never circulate back into their familiar routine of being causal with their ongoing bickering, but now, these little engages are enough for him to not have to worry so much.

It's progress, and that's all he could ever ask for.


End file.
